SG: Saga of the new Alterran Empire: Book 3 Goa'uld
by Malicious World Builder
Summary: This is the third book in the saga I am writing. I suggest you read the first two before reading this one. With the Goa'uld driven from Earth the SEN is now the problem the Alterran Empire will need to deal with. Meanwhile two old friends of the SGC return to ask the Alterran Empire for their help, one asks for help for his people, the other so he can return home.
1. Chapter 1

"Radek how are we looking on that assistance? We could really use some guidance down here," Daniel said. He was running around deep inside the city scanning everyone to find the Goa'uld who had slipped through the gate from Destiny and they were having no luck.

-We're doing the best we can Doctor Jackson, but it seems whatever caused our long range sensors to malfunction is disrupting the internal sensors too. We can detect lifesigns Doctor but there's no way of telling what's Goa'uld and what's humanoid,- Zelenka's voice replied.

"Well, there should be two of them right?"

-I thought there was only one Goa'uld?-

"There is. But if the sensors can detect the symbiote too then you should have two lifesigns overlapping."

-That could work. There's two lifesigns closeby which could be what we're looking for. Go up a floor and towards the ZPM room on your floor. He should be just above the ZPM hub.-

"You heard him," Daniel shouted to his men, trying to copy O'Neill's hard military attitude. "Captain take your team and circle around."

"Yes Doctor," the Captain that Daniel had brought with him said and hurried away with his men.

With half his group disappearing down the corridor Daniel and the rest hurried over to the nearby stairs and rushed up to the floor above. As they neared the room the Captain and his group approached from the other side.

-The Goa'uld should be in the room to your left Doctor Jackson,- Zelenka's voice came through the com badge. -One of the main power conduits run under the floor of that room. He could do some damage if he reaches them.-

"Thank you Radek, we're going in." Silently Daniel pried away the door control's cover and overrode the lock. When he was done two of the soldiers prepared to open the door. A thought from Daniel dimmed the lights until the corridor was almost pitch black. With their Alterran eyes it was still enough for them to see everything as the group slipped inside the room without a sound. On the bed in the middle of the room they saw movement and in seconds the bed was surrounded. Slowly Daniel increased the light in the room and saw the two naked people in the bed staring at them in disbelief.

"Radek where's the next pair of lifesigns?" Daniel asked while he walked out of the room with the men following in his wake.

-There's two pair of life sings three floors above and others below you.-

"New idea. Beam us to the Odyssey Radek," Daniel ordered. "I need to access the Asgard core."

-Just a second.-

A moment later Daniel and the group was transported away to the corridor just outside the Asgard core, leaving the two lovers without any explanation.

"I need you to stay here with your men Captain," Daniel said when they all tried to follow him into the room. "What's happening inside this room is not for your eyes."

"Sir I have top level clearance," the Captain replied.

"Yes, but this is a project for my and Mokar's eyes only." With those words Daniel stepped inside and closed the door behind him. After stepping through a second door he was inside the room, there Thor, Heimdall, Loki and Herminoid were working on their new bodies. "Hello Thor. I just need to do a few things with the Core and I'll be on my way again."

"How is your hunt going?"

"We're having some problems finding the Goa'uld, but I'm going to fix that now." In seconds he had done what he needed to do and begun to beam the canisters he had just designed into the city."

-Doctor Jackson the city's sensors show that you're beaming something into the city and it does not like it.-

"It's just a few hundred canisters of symbiote poison. It might be a little unpleasant to breath inside the city for a few minutes but it is the easiest way to target a Goa'uld. Seal all doors and make sure the poison can reach every part of the city."

* * *

"Sam, how are things looking?" Jack asked.

-The shield's are taking a beating down here but we still have full shield strength. They're not getting through these shields,- she responded.

"Good. Teal'c thinks that the last of the 305s have returned to Earth so I will be arriving in a few minutes to wipe them out." Outside the viewport he could see the blue tunnel that was hyperspace and in front of his ship was the other Aurora and five of his retributors.

-The longer we wait the more chance that all of the 305s are here.-

"There's been a few developments in Pegasus and the fleet's needed there so we're going to hurry up our plans here on Earth. How are we looking on the emitters?"

-The traveler ships just left with the last of them. The network should be operational in a few hours.-

"What about the surface base and the space base?"

-The surface base is almost fully operational and the space base will be launched in two days.-

"Remind me why we're not just building it in space straight away?"

-Well for once there's an armada just above my position so if we tried to build it where it needs to be they would only need a lucky shot to destroy it and it's just as easy for us to take it up from here to where it needs to be as if we would move it into position with hyperspace and sublight engines from another solar system. And it's a lot easier for us to connect the two bases with cables if we do it here on the ground than if we try to send the cables in either direction.-

"Well then. Be ready. We will be there in half a minute."

-Copy that, Carter out.-

"Alright everyone, stand ready for battle," Jack roared out over the bridge and immediately a stream of confirmations and status updates were shouted back.

Half a minute later a giant hyperspace window formed over Earth when their fleet arrived. Almost a hundred 305s stood against them. From behind the bridge yellow streams of drones came rushing by before the 305s could react. Sitting in the control chair Jack felt the power at his control, without holding anything back he let lose his fleet. A curtain of bright orange plasma bolts raced forward moments later and crashed into the 305s. Over the huge distance between the two fleets the bolts flew wide and most missed to evaporate against the atmosphere. When they came within optimal firing range they opened up with a continuous bombardment of plasma. From the surface he could see several bright blue lances of energy jumping up and cutting the 305s into pieces. While his crew was focused on destroying the hostile fleet Jack had taken control of the beaming arrays on all of the ships and were beaming out any lifesigns from the 305s when their shields failed. Between the blue energy lances coming from the surface he saw Sam's two Auroras rise with their weapons pumping bolts of plasma into the rear of the 305 fleet. In response the 305s regrouped to face them on two fronts. Two lone 305s begun to break away from the fleet and powered up their hyperdrives. Before the ships could escape one of the Retributors used its FTL-drive to get close and knock out one of the ship's hyperdrive, the other just managed to flee before the Retributor was upon it. On the sensors Jack tracked the ship and watched it pass the blockade line, instantly it was joined by another ship in hyperspace and disappeared seconds later. His attention was called back to the battle outside when the four Retributors Sam had brought to Earth decloaked in between the twenty six 305s that remained. Instant panic was the result when they let the drones they had left loose on the 305s. Throughout the 305 fleet ships begun to activate their hyperdrives and tried to escape, a few succeeded but most were disabled. With all 305s destroyed or disabled Jack opened a channel to Sam from his com badge.

"Sam, can you send me the location of the new gate, I'm needed in Pegasus, urgently."

-Transmitting coordinates now.-

"Thanks Sam," he said as he beamed himself from the ship to the surface. In front of him was the gate and around him an almost perfect copy of Atlantis gate room was standing. "You have a week to take care of business, then I want you back on Atlantis. Daniel will take over here after you."

-I'll be back as soon as I can Jack,- was the last he heard before he stepped through the gate.

* * *

"Master Teal'c. I am picking up a hyperspace signal, it's Goa'uld. Given the speed of the craft I think it must be damaged," one of Teal'c's men said.

"Plot a new intercept course." His Retributor was packed to the brim with drones even after they had taken out three of the escaping 305s. While it might be unfair that his ship would get the majority of the kills he thought it a luxury he had as a commander.

"Course plotted." Outside the viewport the blue and white of hyperspace disappeared and turned pitch black when they returned to normal space far from anything. Before the ship had even come to a halt it had turned a few degrees to starboard and launched itself back into hyperspace.

* * *

In the gate room of Atlantis Jack came through the gate to find a thick blue mist covering the floor. "Daniel!"he shouted.

On the balcony above Daniel quickly appeared. "Oh, hi Jack."

"What's this?" Jack asked. He gestured toward the mist which whirled around his arms and his body.

"The mist?"

"Yes, what else?" With determined steps he walked up the stairs.

"They brought back a Goa'uld from Destiny that I had to chase down. We're having some problems with the sensors so we had some problems finding it, so I ended up beaming in some Goa'uld poison. I might have overdone it slightly. We used the city's ventilation system to concentrate the poison here so it can dissipate over time. It should also make sure that they can't come through the gate again."

"How did you ever come up with that idea?"

"I tried to imagine what you would do Jack."

"Just go ahead and blame it on the career military Daniel. But I think you should recycle the gas back into the system, there's no reason for us not to use the gas to stop the Goa'uld if they try to infiltrate the city."

"We could have the city's life support system create some of the gas around the city to make sure that we can keep the gas in the air."

"I'll see to it later Daniel. Right now you're needed on Earth to take over after Sam and root out the morons who did this on Earth."

"I'm still packing the last of my things, I'll be ready in an hour."

"Get going then. I'm taking over here," Jack said and chased him out of the control room. "Can someone get me Zelenka?"

* * *

Deep in space Mokar was sitting on the bridge of the Aurora which was rushing through hyperspace in pursuit of the ship he was tracking from the battle of the Traveler home fleet. A little over an hour ago the small shuttle he had used before had rendezvous with the Aurora and the eight Retributors. Now he was watching a hologram while he waited for the other ship to reach it destination. By now the improved sensors of the Aurora had determined that they were chasing a very large but horribly slow Asgard ship that tried to mask its hyperdrive's trail. After trailing the ship for hours it just disappeared from his hologram. "Report."

"Tracking has failed. Ship can not be detected on either subspace sensors or normal sensors," on of the Asurans said.

"Leave hyperspace where the tracking failed."

"Leaving hyperspace in five seconds. Four. Three. Two. One." The moment they dropped out of hyperspace they saw nothing, absolutely nothing. Everything was dark around them. The sensors showed nothing around them, not even the eight Retributors which should be surrounding them showed up on any sensors.

"Contact the other ships. See if they have the same problem."

"Subspace connections are unstable between the ships."

"Can we send orders to them?"

"We estimate eighty five percent of transmissions to be lost between the ships. Repeated transmission of orders should compensate."

"Have the fleet pull back to the nearest solar system."

A/N: Book 4 is not currently being worked on, instead I've started a project I call Project Alterra, in my profile there's a link to a teaser video if you would like to see what it is. Sorry about the audio.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Alright we're back to the normal publishing schedule, one chapter every Sunday +1 GMT (or possibly early Monday if I have things to do). Otherwise two chapters will be posted the following Sunday.

"How are you feeling?" Mokar asked. He was sitting next to Sheppard in the sick bay while Doctor Keller was examining his vitals which was showed on a monitor nearby. Personally he had just returned to the city after their sensors failed to show any trace of the ship they tracked.

"I'm ready to return to service. As soon as Keller thinks I can actually survive without her constant care."

"Good, I'll be sending you back to Earth to assist Daniel when you're cleared for duty."

"I'm good to go now."

"No you're not. It will take a few more hours before those cuts have healed properly," Keller said.

"May I have a word with you Doctor Keller?" Mokar asked.

"Of course." Quietly he moved away with her to a corner.

"I would be needing Doctor Beckett's assistance on the Asgard body project. But he said that I should take you instead and there is someone who wanted to see you." With careful fingers he slid a titanium ring onto her finger and let the teeth on its sides connect and lock together with the two snakes which were swirling around her own ring.

"Where did you get this?" she growled silently.

"I will tell you soon enough Doctor, but if you want to take Beckett's place I will show you today."

"You will tell me here and now," she growled and took a firm grip around his wrist.

"We're leaving with the Odyssey in two hours, if you want to come you just need to be there when we leave." Slowly he mentally pried off her fingers and held her in place while he backed away and left the sick bay.

Slowly she sunk down on the floor and mixed tears of pain and joy ran down her cheeks. Behind her Sheppard saw her and hurried to his feet. "Jannet? What happened?" he asked and wrapped his arms around her.

"He gave me this." She freed her hand and showed the two rings which were locked together.

* * *

Outside Earth's atmosphere Teal'c's ship was hanging silently and watched the Tel'tak arrive from hyperspace. He had tracked it from the moment they had picked it up on their sensors but when they had moved to intercept the ship their scans had shown just how damaged the ship was. If they had tried to force it back to normal space the stress would have destroyed it, instead they had stalked it through hyperspace and then rushed ahead to Earth when they had determined that it was the target. Now he turned his ship around when the Tel'tak rushed past their belly and dove towards Earth without slowing down at all. With all power going to the engines he tried to catch up but the Tel'tak rushed into the atmosphere at full speed while he had to slow down his descent with the large Aurora. From the surface bellow anti-air emplacements begun to fire upon the unshielded Tel'tak. Round after round exploded around the ship and he saw fragments ripping from it. Around the Tel'tak an orange fireball formed and even more fragments begun to rip from it. Seconds later it plowed through the arctic ice and a pillar of steam rose in its wake. While Teal'c's ship continued its slow descent fighter planes rose from states above the arctic circle and his sensors detected submarines which moved towards the sinking Tel'tak's position.

With a thought he opened a channel to the Alterran base. "Colonel Carter, a Tel'tak has crashed into the arctic ice. It seems to have come from Jaffa space. I require air support to secure the area."

-We have tracked the object since it entered the atmosphere Teal'c and I'm already sending jumpers to your location.-

"Thank you." Close to the surface of the ocean he angled the ship down and pierced the surface. Slowly he let the ship sink down into the water and descended downwards.

-Teal'c. The jumpers might work as submarines but I don't think that the Auroras were made for that.- Sam's voice informed him through his control chair's speakers.

"Then we will see how it functions underwater," Teal'c said determined. There was something familiar about the Tel'tak but he didn't know what it was, that familiarity was the only thing that had stopped him from destroying the Tel'tak.

Slowly he let the huge ship sink down and be submerged completely. Through his sensors he tracked the Tel'tak while it sunk and saw the submarines closing in. From above he saw one of the jumpers diving past and rapidly closing in on the Tel'tak. Above the surface six other jumpers tried to hold the fighter planes away. From the hold Teal'c sent out drones which flew towards the subs and exploded on proximity. It did not rupture the subs catastrophically but it did force them to go up to the surface. The minutes rolled by while he let the Aurora sink further and further down into the ice cold water, finally it approached the seabed and he used its engines to hover the ship just above the Tel'tak. Beneath it the jumper had already extended its shield around the Tel'tak, but now the Aurora's shield expanded and created a huge air bubble around itself. An unfortunate sub found itself sailing into it and came crashing into the seabed some distance away.

-We've found a single older Jaffa male inside the Tel'tak. We can't find a pulse and he's in need of medical assistance. He's tagged for transport,- the men below reported.

"Transporting now," an officer on the bridge said and a second later the chime of the Asgard transporter was heard. In front of Teal'c's control chair an older Jaffa was left when the white light faded, supported by a soldier. Instantly Teal'c recognised the man and sprung out of his seat. "Old Man." Desperately he held the man in his arms, pushing the soldier away. "Transport us both to the base."

In moments the scenery around him changed and medical personnel rushed to aid the Jaffa in his arms. In seconds Sam was at his side and helped him up. He held the Jaffa in his arms and felt the blood which streamed from the cuts on the Jaffa flow across his skin. In front of him something flashed but all he could see was Bra'tac's face as he pressed him close. For a moment everything changed and then he was pulled backwards, someone tried to take Bra'tac from him and powerful arms nailed him to the floor when he tried to resist. He could feel his rage building and the adrenaline pumping. There must have been six or eight of them, maybe more, but he broke free. He saw the figure kneeling next to his mentor's side and took aim for it. From nowhere someone rushed in front of him and pushed him backwards. He felt the man circle around him and felt as an arm closed around his throat. He tried to lock his arms around his attacker and swing him over but his attacker stood firm, even when he heaved his weight backwards his attacker stood firm and managed to force Teal'c down on his knees. Furiously he drow his elbows backwards, over and over again, each time they connected but still the arm around his throat only closed firmer and firmer. As he begun to feel the lack of air in his body the curtain of rage over his mind fell away and he could hear Jack calling out to him. "Teal'c, snap out of it." In front of him he saw the figure, Mokar, rising from the floor while medics rushed to treat the formerly lifeless Bra'tac who now coughed and screamed in pain. "It is alright Teal'c, it's alright," he hear Jack say from behind while Jack's arm around him was slowly released.

* * *

On one of Atlantis piers the Odyssey waited while Doctor Keller approached it with a small duffel bag hanging over her shoulder. As she came closer the ramp lowered and one of the Asgard walked down. "Hello Doctor Keller. My name is Loki."

"Uh, hi, It will be a pleasure to work with you on your new bodies." Together they walked up the ramp and into the ship. In silence Loki led her through the ship to the bridge where Thor, Hermiod and Heimdall were waiting. "Welcome Doctor Keller," Thor said from one of the Asgard consoles which had been installed around the bridge. "We will be leaving momentarily."

"So where are we going?"

"We do not know. Your leader Mokar has been very vague, we will be going to a remote research outpost where we can work in peace and without any threat. To keep it a secret it does not have a gate and can only be reached by ship."

"He is requesting to be beamed aboard," Heimdall said from another console.

"Do so."

In a flash of light Mokar appeared on the bridge and as he headed for the Captain's chair he left a streak of red drops on the ground. When he sat down Keller saw the blood stains on his tunic. "Are you alright?"

"The blood comes from a Jaffa that I healed some moments ago." Slowly the ship rose from the pier and headed for space.

"Are you sure? That's a lot of blood." She was at his side and prodded and poked his flesh to check for cuts.

"Yes I am sure."

Slowly she backed away and sat down in the nearby pilot's seat. "Then can you tell me where you got the ring?" Her tone was like cold metal.

"It was a gift to help me convince you to come, that is all I can say."

"We require a set of coordinates," Thor said.

With a thought Mokar reached out and activated a piece of Alterran tech which he personally had installed on the ship. Throughout the bridge every screen and console, including those of the Asgard, fell dark. Exactly six point five seconds later the hyperdrive launched them forward into hyperspace. "It is just a precaution to make sure our destination remains a secret."

"Atlantis' sensors will track the trajectory of this ship with ease," Loki reminded.

"This ship was shifted out of normal space before we entered hyperspace and should therefore be untrackable."

Behind him Thor's eyes grew wide. "The Alterra managed to do such things? The Asgard have tried but it was determined that a phase shift would not be possible inside hyperspace and a phase shift would not persist after the dimensional barrier was broken."

A slight smile grew on Mokar's face while he replied. "We determined the same many years before the first of my brethren ascended. But it would seem that ascended knowledge has found a way around that problem. I do not know how this device works myself because the blueprint was given to me by one of my ascended sisters."

"Hey, don't ignore me," Keller shouted. "Tell me who gave you this ring or I will inject you with something painful right now."

* * *

Inside the control room of the Alterran base on Earth Daniel and Sam were waiting and watching. They were in the back of the room and watched the rows of consoles in front of them, there were hundreds and hundreds of them. All but a handful of the consoles were dark and dormant, built for days to come when each console would be operated by a mission leader helping teams out in the field. The people working there now were coordinating the actions of the few ships which were still stationed at Earth. Of the ships left behind only one was actively doing anything.

"Ma'am, the last emitter is in place and operational," one of the operators shouted back to them.

"Thank you," she replied, looked at Daniel and gestured towards the dramatic red button. "Care to do the honors?"

"The honor of locking humanity inside a giant fishbowl? I think that you can have that honor yourself. Despite it is you own project and you should be the one to fire it up."

"Fine." With two fingers she pressed down the button and a dull chime was her reward. The wall on the other side of the room was covered in one big screen which showed Earth. A few seconds after she pressed the button a sharp whining sound was heard across the planet and on the screen in front of them Sam and Daniel could see the gigantic shield forming around Earth's atmosphere. Over the base the shield was bent down into the ground to separate the area they had secured from the rest of the planet, it was the perfect blockade.

"Well then, I guess it's my time to take care of things here on Earth then," Daniel said.

"Have fun being diplomatic and fair to everyone Daniel," Sam teased. "I heard that Mokar's sending Sheppard to help you out when you fail to negotiate."

"I don't need him when I fail Sam, I'll just do like I did on Atlantis and gas anyone who stands against me."

"Jack told me you did that but this is our own people, other humans Daniel. Don't gas them."

"I'm pulling your leg Sam, I will keep the killing to a minimum."


	3. Chapter 3

Without warning the 304 broke out of hyperspace and Mokar, Doctor Keller and the four Asgard could see a lone space station hanging in front of them, far away from anywhere. It was clearly Ancient in origin. As the ship came closer to the station tractor beams locked onto them and dragged them into a hangar. Even after the ship had descended onto the deck and was standing still the controls of the ship remained shut down. "Welcome to research station Arcturus," a monotone voice sounded through the ship's speakers. "Please stand by for transportation."

With a wash of colour their surroundings changed to an Alterran control room which was full of Asurans. "The transport technology seems most peculiar," Hermiod said.

"Yes it's an Alterran design created after their ascension. It is quicker, quieter and more efficient," Rodney said from a control chair on a slightly elevated platform behind them.

"You died," Keller shouted and stormed up to him. "I saw your body. You're dead." With tears of rage and sorrow coming forth she clenched her fist and smacked him as hard as she could across the face. "Why aren't you dead?"

Slowly Rodney rose from the control chair and wrapped his arms around her. "It's great to see you too sweetheart."

"You died in the jumper just before they rescued us Rodney. How? Why?"

"Yes I died there Jennifer, but the Alterra have watchers. Weak ascended beings from other races who few believe in, since their power comes from people like us believing in them less known races have much less power than the Alterra. Because they lack the power to do anything useful in their plane or here they watch and report what happens. Because of the explosion other ascended beings were checking things on Earth and one of them chose to ascend me when I died. I retook human form and helped Sheppard find you, then they brought me here."

"But why Rodney? Why didn't you tell me?" She was crying against his chest but managed to get the words out.

"Because of this." He gestured at everything around him. "They have problems of their own but they want to help us and they know that it will help them too. For all their knowledge and power they are not all knowing, but they are wise. They are in constant war on their plane and need the power they get from our belief in them to survive, if we can restore their empire they will have the power they need to live in peace but they can only spare people to help us occasionally. That's why they needed me, I'm a human so I don't bring any real powers to the table but I'm a genius so I can do research. Here I can solve the biggest problem we're facing and if I do that I know you will be safe."

"You could have returned to Atlantis Rodney," she wept.

"The research is too dangerous and I need to be focused. The ascended thought you would be to much of a distraction on Atlantis. I would complete their work and then I could return to Atlantis. A few months, not more than a year, here and in exchange I could live hundreds of years with you."

"So you're finished with your work now? Is that why Mokar brought us here?" With the arm of her tunic she wiped away her tears and looked up at him.

"No, I am still missing something. It will be a few more weeks before it is done and stands ready. You were brought here because the Asgard restoration project is equally important to the Alterran empire's return. They're bringing an entire race to our flag if you and the Asgard can succeed, it would let us project influence across several galaxies at the same time. But that still requires me to finish my project."

"You've taken up work on Project Arcturus again?"

"Yes. We're expanding too fast into everything but power generation. Everything requires ZPMs but there's only one operational facility and we have yet to secure a galaxy enough to create another. The ZPMs on our ships are running on minimal charges and that will not do in the long run. In the best case this project would eliminate the need for ZPMs and in worst case we could create fully charged ZPMs at will."

"You destroyed an entire solar system last time Rodney. If this goes wrong again you will kill us both."

"We will be fine. All trials are run on other worlds by proxy, through the control chair I can direct the Asurans to do what is needed. I have performed twelve failed runs, we will be safe here."

"You have blown up twelve solar systems?"

"More like sixteen, on two of the tests we reached more than five hundred percent of design output capacity before going critical. We have made sure all systems which can be affected by our testing are desolate before we begin."

"May I have a word with you Rodney?" Mokar asked.

"Of course." He snapped his fingers and one of the Asurans came running to his side. "Please escort my wife to our quarters and then to her work station."

"Acknowledged," the Asuran said and led Doctor Keller away.

"Your message said that you lacked something."

"Yes. I have determined why the containment field fails when we activate the generator. The generator was designed to have several containment fields but the blueprints we got from Atlantis database only contains one of those. I could try to implement more myself, but I think I know where we can find a complete blueprint. Some years ago we found a run down copy of Atlantis, I think one of the designers lived there."

"You mean the place the locals called the Tower?"

"Exactly. I need to go there and search through the database."

"You know that you are confined to this station until the ascended allow you to leave."

"It will be an hour, two at most. They will not even know that I was gone."

"They're here watching you Rodney. I will have someone go there and retrieve the data for you Rodney."

"Come one."

"No. But I will have it done as soon as possible."

"Fine," Rodney said and sunk back into his control chair.

Rapidly Mokar walked away and found an empty room. A press on his com badge and he was connected to the station's com system. With a simple thought he connected to O'Neill's com badge. "General O'Neill."

-I read you loud and clear, Mokar.- Came a reply.

"Ready a military team and a science team. We need to recover data from the Tower, the Lantean city-ship that Colonel Sheppard and Doctor McKay discovered."

-Alright, anything special they should look for?-

"Have them take all data."

-I will report back in a few hours.-

Another tap on the com badge closed the connection while he hurried away to find the Asgard.

* * *

"Jumper Six come in," Major Rutherford said from the pilot's seat of Jumper Five.

-Jumper Six here,- Lieutenant Miller's voice responded.

"The eggheads with us here would like to double check things on our sensors with yours," he said and received cold looks from the scientist and the engineer who were sitting in the back of the craft.

-Transmitting our sensor data.-

"Thank you Lieutenant."

"This is most disturbing," the engineer said and hurried forward into the cockpit. "Lieutenant are you sure that your sensors are reading energy signatures several hundred meters into the air?"

-That's affirmative.-

"Do we have a problem?" Rutherford asked.

"Maybe," the engineer said and hurried back to his seat in the back.

"What do you mean maybe?"

"He means that this world had a medieval technology and they should have nothing that high into the atmosphere or anything which gives of energy for that matter," the scientist said.

"There was a Lantean city-ship on the surface of the planet when Colonel Sheppard visited and they had people with the ATA gene. They might be flying a few jumpers," Rutherford asked.

"Their ZPM was depleted along with the Jumper's internal batteries. And even if they were not both of these jumpers were gifts from the people of this world. We only left a single jumper which they could study and learn from when they had advanced far enough," the scientist said.

"Then what is it?"

"Could be Wraith," the engineer said.

"We don't know that, it could be an asteroid swarm with high amounts of magnetic compounds," the scientist replied.

"We would see the fireballs that any sort of asteroid would form during their descent and hundreds of asteroids would not fly in such an ordered fashion either."

"Did you hear that Lieutenant?" Rutherford asked.

-Sure did Major.-

"Head back to the gate and inform Atlantis about our findings, if these are Wraith I want you there to request reinforcements."

-Copy that.- To their right they could see the other jumper rising quickly away from them.

"Alright you two determine what those things are, " he ordered. Next to him the sergeant begun to check his gear and weapons.

"That could be moons or something," the scientist said from the back

"They're too small and there's too many of them. And what sort of moon would have these energy readings?" the engineer countered.

"Colonel Sheppard's team noted no moons when they visited the planet," Rutherford informed.

"Then there's nothing else they can be," the engineer said.

"So it's the wraith?" Rutherford asked.

"Maybe, we're to far away to know. But there might be a hive and an escort of cruisers above our destination."

"Of course we can't be sure with this little data. It might just be something else," the scientist replied.

"Then we have darts ahead. It would explain all of the energy signatures which are diving for the surface," Rutherford said and pressed the engines of the jumper to their max.

-Major we've just arrived at the gate and we're picking up incoming ships.-

"Copy that Lieutenant. Radio Atlantis, we have possible hive ships with escort on the other side of the planet. We might need support from the fleet to complete the mission."

-Major Rutherford do you read?- Jack's voice sounded seconds later.

"I read you loud and clear General."

-Can you confirm that the Wraith are there?-

A quick look back at the two eggheads and their shrugging gave him the answer. "Negative General. We're picking up plenty of energy signatures both inside and outside the atmosphere but we have yet to identify the sources."

-Lieutenant Miller here General. We have visual contact with twelve Wraith Darts. They're heading for the stargate.-

-Copy that Lieutenant. I'll have the fleet there as soon as we can.-

"Thank you General," Rutherford said while the engineer came forward.

"General O'Neil, we have determined that there could be between five and eight hives on the other side of the planet with a sizeable escort. We'll have visual contact and confirmation in a few minutes," the engineer said.

Copy that, report back as soon as you can determine what's there. We can have a fleet there in less than an hour if you need backup.-

"Yes Sir," Rutherford said.

* * *

"I hope everything is to your liking," Mokar said when he walked into the lab where the Asgard and Doctor Keller had been shown by the Asurans.

"This lab is far superior to the Odyssey's facility. It will greatly increase the speed of our work," Thor replied.

"I agree. This will greatly improve our work," Loki said.

"Good, if there's anything you need you may ask the Asurans or Doctor McKay."

"I'd like to have a long chat with Rodney if that's alright," Keller said.

"Of course. You are free to move around this station. But you can not leave this station before your work is done."

"Have you managed to transfer the data you need from the Odyssey?" Mokar asked the Asgard.

"Yes, we have transferred all the data we need to the station. We can begin our work momentarily."

"Good, but first I would like you to examine some data we collected earlier today. I think it might be some sort of Asgard jamming." From a pocket on his robes he took up an Alterran data drive and connected it to one of the consoles. A few thoughts from him activated a holographic screen in front of him and pulled up all the data it had recorded. "This is everything the sensors detected once we entered the jamming field. It covers an impressive part of space but there is nothing there of interest to the Lanteans or the Alterra."

"This code which is repeated could well be a request for a pass code," Thor said and pointed at several identical sequences of code. "Another alternative is that it is an encoded frequency of some sort."

"I may be able to assist," Loki said while he strode forward and begun to filter the data. "It seems to be a variation of a scrambling program I assisted with."

"You developed this? You found a way to scramble Alterran sensors completely?" Mokar asked.

"I assisted in its development. It was not sanctioned by the High Council but it was determined that it was needed to mask the research outposts of those of us who did unsanctioned work from both the High Council and the Goa'uld. When I left the goal was to disperse signals and energy on a planetary scale to hide the location of our labs. Of course it would be impossible to hide the gravitational effects the planet would have on the rest of the solar system. We only needed to hide where on the planet our bases were located."

"Do you know how to get around it?"

"To my knowledge the research was stopped when Thor and the High Council exiled the project's leader."

"Wouldn't it be wrong to exile Asgard who didn't want to follow the laws of the High Council? Then they could simply do what they wanted to do," Keller said.

"An exiled Asgard is placed in stasis and their mind is uploaded into a simulation which will make them see the errors of their ways, it is then placed inside a small shuttle and sent deep into space to wait for the exile to end. It is a practice we have inherited from the Alterra," Loki said.

"It was discontinued after several of the shuttles disappeared on their way to deep space," Thor said. Slowly his eyes narrowed and he turned his head towards Loki. "You were one of those responsible for the last exiles were you not Loki? Now knowing that you do not follow the orders of the High Council perhaps those Asgard were not lost?"

"Those lost were highly sympathetic with the Vanir Thor. To find a cure I think we need to have more freedom to conduct research, but the Vanir have gone to far. We had several small scout ships which observed the Vanir at the time and we used them to send the exiles to the Vanir if they had asked to be sent there. By implementing false memories we controlled what the Vanir gained from the exiles and they shared their progress with us freely. We thought you would discover this faster Thor, but it seems we were wrong."

"Through the Vanir your research was advanced quickly. It seems there are still things that the High Council does not know."

"There are many factions within the Asgard race that thinks differently than the High Council. Each of them work for their own goals."

"Perhaps the High Council have been blind to the will of the Asgard," Thor said.

"Change is a force that can not be stopped," Mokar said.

Barely had he shut his mouth before his com badge came to life. -We have a problem,- Jack's voice said.


	4. Chapter 4

-We have a problem,- Jack's voice sounded from Mokar's com badge.

"What is it?" Mokar asked.

-The wraith are culling the planet. The two jumpers we sent in are detecting at least five Wraith hives, maybe as many as eight. Plus an escort of cruisers.-

"Then they are not culling the planet. During the entire war the Alterra fought against the Wraith they never performed a culling using more than two hive ships. This is something else."

-Could they be after the same data that we want?-

"Perhaps, but it would serve them no use."

-Well there's a partially intact city-ship down there. What's the chance that the stardrive is still intact?-

"Very high."

-Alright then we might have a target. I'm sending everything we have there to stop the wraith, they can not have that stardrive.-

"I agree they can not have it. If the city has simply been damaged due to neglect then a ZPM could reactivate dormant systems."

-Like the shield,- Jack filled in.

"Yes, like the shield. If you need to Jack, then take Atlantis. We are that desperate."

-Copy that. We'll take the planet.-

* * *

"Teal'c," Bra'tac hissed from the bed. "Where am I?"

"You have been brought to Atlantis for care old man," Teal'c replied. He had been sitting on a chair, waiting for his mentor to wake up, now he was walking over to the bed.

"It is good to see you Teal'c, I feared that you had been killed. Though I am uncertain why you would bring me here."

"Things are chaotic on Earth. Just as it was on Dakara a civil war is taking place."

"Then we can not ask them for help. What news about the Jaffa do you have?"

"I have not been in contact with the Jaffa since my escape. I do not believe anyone else in this city has either."

"Then we must make haste to determine what has happened to our brothers and sisters," he said and pressed himself up from the bed.

"You need to rest old man. When you were brought to this city a sarcophagus would not revive you if we had tried to use one. Your injuries were too severe."

"I am alright Teal'c." Without doubt Bra'tac stood up and walked a few steps forward. "So this is the city of the Ancient's?"

"Indeed," Teal'c replied. "We are currently in another galaxy which is called Pegasus."

With quick and curious steps the old Jaffa walked up to one of the walls and drew his fingers across it, then he hurried over to one of the windows and looked outside. "This city is truly magnificent, I am honoured that I have been allowed to see it."

Without warning the flash of the Asgard transporter appeared and left Jack behind. "Suit up Teal'c, we have wraith hives attacking a high value planet and I need you to lead the relief fleet. You're leaving in five minutes."

"Very well O'Neill," Teal'c said and vanished in a flash of white light.

"What is happening?" Bra'tac asked while he followed Jack who was rushing out of the room and into the next.

"There's a species called the wraith in this galaxy, they're attacking a world which we need to retrieve data from," he replied while he rushed through room after room in the med bay and signed for the men from Destiny to follow.

"Then allow me to assist you."

"You're free to observe the battle Bra'tac. But you can't use our weapons and gear and I'm not going to allow you to go into battle without it."

"Surely you have seen how effective I am in battle many times, even when using to your Tau'ri weapons."

"We're not using human weapons on this one Bra'tac," Jack said and drew his Alterran gun, a quick thought activated the dormant shield which was sitting under his clothes. Then he shoot himself in the arm and let the weak energy pulse disperse against the personal shield. "We're using Alterran weapons and equipment, you can't use them because they're locked to our DNA."

"Most impressive. Can the shield hold against the staff weapon?"

"Maybe fifty hits or so unless it is allowed to recharge," he said and stopped dead in the last room.

Behind him he could feel Beckett storming through the soldiers towards him. "What's happening General?" Beckett asked when he reached the two a second later.

"Have you checked all personnel from Destiny yet?" Jack asked in return.

"Not by a long shoot. Some of the tests will take a few days before I can be sure that they are all themselves."

"We don't have that long Doctor," Jack said and turned towards Colonel Young. "Everett how many of your people have the Ancient gene?"

"Everyone Sir. They were picked for the mission for that reason," Young replied.

"Good you're going back into the field straight away." With some concentration Jack let his shield float out of his clothes and up into the air with the Alterran gun. A short distance above his head they both stopped and begun to circle within the room. "Listen up everyone. You're in Atlantis which is in Pegasus. Currently you're the largest force we have directly available and a high value planet is under attack. We're sending you in to defend the planet, more specifically there's a city-ship like Atlantis which you need to defend. The green crystal which is floating around above us is a personal shield emitter, everyone of you should be able to use one. You just need to focus on what you want it to shield against and it will do its best to protect you, it does not have an unlimited charge so do not get reckless. The other thing above us is our standard Alterran handgun, think to fire it alright? There will be similar weapons of other designs, like SMGs, assault rifles and rifles but you will all be given one of these as well. Think stun and it will stun, think kill and it will kill. You can use them to breach doors as well if you think about a larger charge. Our fleet is waiting in orbit for you and they will take care of any hives, cruisers and darts. All you need to focus on is the wraith drones the darts are leaving on the ground. Anyone who's not willing to take part in this mission can return to their beds and stay there until Doctor Beckett tells you otherwise."

Throughout the room "Yes Sir" rang while the men formed up.

"Where's Colonel Sheppard?" Jack asked Beckett who was still standing next to him.

"I let him go half an hour ago," Beckett replied.

A thought from Jack activated the com badge. "Chuck, have Colonel Sheppard left for Earth yet?"

-No Sir. He's due to leave in two and a half hours.-

"Alright. Find him and beam him straight to my location. You're free to beam up the people standing in formation to the fleet also."

-Yes Sir.-

Another thought cut the connection just as a brown haired woman came rushing up to him. "What's the meaning of this?" she asked.

"Who would you be?" Jack asked. Meanwhile Destiny's military men and women begun to beam away.

"Camile Wray, IOA oversight committee. As you should well know General O'Neill. Now I demand that you tell me what's going on."

"Come find me later and we can talk," Jack said and mentally held her vocal cords in place.

"General I do not think it is wise to send them into battle so soon after rescuing them," Beckett objected.

"We do not have a choice Doctor, if the wraith take that world they can gain access to the stardrive of the city-ship and use it to improve their own hyperdrives. I think it might be wise if you prepare a team and join them, there may be injured among the local population."

"Aye, I'll prepare a team," he said and hurried away with his white coat flying around his legs.

"Bra'tac go to those beaming away and tell Teal'c that I want you to observe from his ship," Jack said.

"I will," Bra'tac replied and walked forward.

"We will do our best General," Young said and walked towards his men and Bra'tac.

"Hold on a minute Colonel. You will be coordinating your efforts with Colonel Sheppard." Almost as if on cue Sheppard was beamed in next to them.

"You wanted to see me?" Sheppard said.

"Yes do you remember your mission to the planet where there was a Lantean city-ship which the locals called the Tower?"

"Sure."

"Good. The planet is under attack by the wraith, we think they're after the stardrive. I'm sending Colonel Young and the men from Destiny to defend the city while Teal'c deals with the wraith fleet. You're going to raise the shield over the city if at all possible, otherwise you need to transmit all data within the city back here and destroy the city. We're not letting the wraith have it."

"Yes Sir. I'll need Zelenka in case things are not operational."

"He's still working on our sensors, we need him there."

"Doctor Rush and Mr Wallace should be able to assist with any technical aspects Sir," Young said.

"Good. Go and brief them, then beam up to Teal'c's ship."

"Yes Sir," the two Colonel's said.

"Sheppard," Jack said when the two other men turned around. "You're not the senior officer here, but I'm still putting you in charge on the ground. I will be ready to bring Atlantis into the battle if you need us."

"Yes Sir, I'll try to make sure you will not have to."

* * *

In the sky above the Tower Jumper Five rushed forward towards what was unmistakably a swarm of wraith darts which was circling around the single spire which was standing tall and proud out of the ground. Above them Rutherford and the sergeant beside him could see the seven hives and some thirty cruisers through the jumper's viewport. An explosion which tore one of the cruisers in two confirmed what the eggheads in the back of the jumper had said, the hives and cruisers were two fleets fighting for control.

"General O'Neill we have visual confirmation. The wraith are fighting themselves."

-Copy that Major. The fleet's minutes away, what's the status on the ground?-

"It's completely covered in wraith Sir. If the organic structures on the surface are anything to go by the wraith have been here for at least a few months. They're properly dug in Sir."

-Alright just I'm transmitting coordinates to you now. Rendezvous with the fleet there.-

"Sir we have picked up some strange subspace signals and would like to investigate. It may be locator chips from former expedition members."

-Alright. Stay cloaked at all times Major,- Jack ordered.

"Yes Sir," Rutherford said and set a course for the two signals. "Lieutenant, I want you to rendezvous with us. I need you two here in case we need to rescue our people."

-Yes Sir,- Miller replied.

* * *

High above the planet the Alterran fleet left hyperspace. They returned to normal space just as one of the hives exploded and took a few of the cruisers with it. Like one the Alterran ships opened up with their weapons. The six hives who had been fighting each other before turned towards them and begun to fire back with the cruisers at their side.

"How are things going Teal'c?" Sheppard asked when he stepped onto the bridge in full combat gear.

"We have engaged six hives and twenty two cruisers. We are outnumbered but we will be victorious here. Mokar has diverted two of the Traveler Retributors to assist us and they will arrive soon."

"Good, set us down as close to the city as you can."

"The wraith are jamming our sensors around the city but we will place you nearby," Teal'c replied just as the ship was rocketed by a salvo from one of the hives.

"Well we're all good to go," Sheppard said just as Teal'c beamed him down to the surface.

"We're detecting two subspace signals from within on of the hives," a tech reported. "The hive's jamming field is down in some parts of the ship, we can beam our personnel directly onto the ship."

"Divert two teams to join up with the jumpers we already have in place and find out where the signals are coming from," Teal'c ordered.

* * *

On the ground Sheppard, Young and almost thirty men appeared out of thin air in a white flash. From above a wing of darts came diving towards them.

"We've got darts bearing in on our position Teal'c. Can you take care of them?" Sheppard shouted into his com badge while they all rushed for cover behind the ruins of a barn. Around them the ground exploded as the darts opened up on them.

-I will send down drones to assist.- Teal'c replied.

As the darts flew by them the group fired after them and watched four darts fall out of the sky. With the darts coming around for another pass the group rushed for cover in between the trees of the forest nearby. From both sides they could see wraith warriors rushing towards them and blue stun bolts flying around them.

"Colonel Young. We're above the outer sections of the city. We might be able to blast our way down and infiltrate the city from the inside," Sheppard shouted as the group had to slow their advance when a large group of wraith warriors came running straight at them.

"I thought you said the outer parts of the city was unstable back on the ship," Young replied. He had just managed to finish the sentence when a wraith threw himself onto him and pressed him down on the ground. With stretched fingers the wraith tried to feed upon him but the shield stopped his hand, while the wraith tried to process what had just happened Young drew his sidearm and fired into the wraith, sending him struggling backwards.

"Are you alright Sir?" Scott asked when he helped him up moments later.

"I'm fine Lieutenant," Young replied.

In the distance they heard a whining sound and within seconds a barrage of drones struck the ground around them, leaving no wraith behind.

"Move out," Sheppard ordered and the group continued their advance towards the lone spire which was glimmering in the distance.


	5. Chapter 5

Above the planet where the Lantean city-ship called the Tower was sitting a fleet of hives were fighting the Alterran forces let by Teal'c. In the hangar of one of those hives Major Rutherford stood and watched as Teal'c beamed in eight more men to help him and his team locate the source of two locator beacons belonging to the Atlantis expedition. With heavy steps to make sure that the newly arrived heard them the Major and his team walked out of the cloaked jumper.

"Major," one of the soldiers said and saluted. "We have orders to assist you in your search."

"Glad to hear it," Rutherford said and checked the Alterran hand scanner he had in his hand. "Our targets are located in what we think is a cell deeper into the hive, close to the bridge."

"We brought these Sir," the soldier said and showed him a handful of small red cylinders. "They're Alterran breaching charges. I've been told that four of these will burn through several walls at once. We should be able to walk in a straight line from here to our targets."

"Let's see them in action. We need to go that way," Rutherford said and pointed at a solid wall.

"How far Sir?" the soldier asked while he place four of the charges on the wall.

"It's a few hundred meters," Rutherford said while the soldier turned the top of the cylinders and blue numbers on the top face increased.

"Stand by. Three, two, one. Fire in the hole," the soldier shouted. On the wall arms stretched out from the four cylinders and locked them together. With a deafening blast the wall exploded inwards and as the dust settled down Rutherford led the men through the breach. In front of them they could see a square hole which ran through walls and room interiors like a corridor. On both sides of the corridor wraith warriors were getting back on their feet. In a well coordinated advance the group hurried through the breach, Rutherford and those directly behind him ignored the wraith in the first five corridors they crossed and let the those bringing up the rear deal with them. When they crossed into the fifth room a small army of wraith waited for them and the group had to use the walls they had breached for protection.

"Sir, we have wraith closing in on our rear," a soldier shouted from behind them.

"Hold your ground," Rutherford ordered. They were all firing away as fast as they could, each blast picking of a wraith. "Give me one of those charges."

"Here you go Sir," another soldier said and handed him four of the cylinders.

"I only need the one." He peaked out of cover and threw the cylinder into the room. The charge bounced one, two, three, four times before one of the wraith warriors stamped it to the ground. A well aimed shot destroyed the warriors foot and a blue liquid begun to run out across the floor, but nothing more happened.

"They're completely safe until you activate them Sir," the soldier said and cranked up the charge to the max, then he threw it into the room. Again it bounced and a wraith warrior stopped it, but this time it was live. When they shot it the cylinder exploded violently and evaporated large parts of the room. A second later they stormed inside and finished of the few wraith who were still alive.

* * *

"Listen up. The entrance leads straight into the spire which is much like the central spire of Atlantis. We need to go up several stories to reach the control room where the control chair is located. I will need a team to stay with me and hold the control room while Colonel Young and the rest of you find and disable the wraith jammers," Sheppard explained as they lay behind a dirt bank and looked at the entrance. A few squads of wraith warriors patrolled around the entrance and two fortified towers were built on either side of the path leading up to the entrance.

"Lieutenant Scott that will be your task, pick a handful of men and keep the Colonel safe," Young said.

"Yes Sir," Scott replied.

"Good. Now judging by the lights in the Tower there's still power which can come from either the naquadah reactor we left behind as compensation or the wraith have their own generators. Either way we should be able to use the city's transporters if they still work. Last time I was here they lacked the power to use them but we can hope," Sheppard said.

"Either way we're storming that thing right now," Young said.

With quiet cracks of broken branches Sergeant Greer and two other men emerged from the woods behind them. "We did not find any more wraith patrols in the immediate area. I think they're still searching for us further out," Greer reported.

"Good work Sergeant," Young commended.

"Thank you Sir."

"Teal'c we're ready to storm the Tower," Sheppard said into his com badge. "There's an alarming number of darts still flying around above us. Can you hold them away from the Tower while we raise the shields?"

-I am sorry Colonel Sheppard but our sensors and weapon systems have been damaged in the fight. I am unable to provide you with accurate air support. I will divert one of the Traveler Retributors to assists you, it will arrive in a matter of minutes.-

"Thank you Teal'c," Sheppard said and turned to Young. "Take half the men and circle around the Tower. We'll flank those towers and the patrols from two sides when the ship arrives."

"Come on, you're with me," Young said and dragged half the group away.

As the minutes ticked on they waited and watched the sky. Without warning a hyperspace window opened straight above the tower, a split second later a bang sounded across the immediate area as the air the ship displaced was forced away, much like putting your hand into a full glass of water. While the wraith patrols looked up at the Retributor which had just arrived Sheppard ordered his men forward and from the other side of the Tower Young and his men did the same. Above them the Retributor's hull plates retracted and the fifty pulse turrets mounted on it begun to spew out bursts of plasma at the darts which circled the area.

"Go go go," Sheppard urged his men. From the towers in front of the entrance blue plasma bolts shot out towards them but the unshielded back of the towers allowed the two groups to take out the operators which fired at the other team. In seconds they had captured the entrance and hurried inside. As soon as everyone was inside Sheppard closed the door and removed the control crystals, effectively sealing the door.

"Transporter's over there," Sheppard said and pointed at a pair of doors beneath a staircase while the men spread out and secured the room and all access points.

"Colonels, we have power," Scott reported when the doors of the transporter opened and the screen inside showed a few locations they could transport to.

"Lieutenant, you and your men are with me. We'll transport up and radio back if it's safe," Sheppard said while he walked to the transporter and stepped inside.

"Yes Sir," Scott replied and he and his men jammed themselves into the small booth.

"I'll radio you Colonel when we have secured a beachhead," Sheppard said from the tight space.

* * *

Another blast tore through the ship and they both had to use the walls of their cell to support themselves. On the other side of the cell door the two wraith guards had stumbled and fallen down on the floor. Before they could get up Ronon was there and dragged its head in through the cell door where Teyla stomped down on its windpipe. Outside the cell the other guard had gotten up and was aiming his stunner at the duo. Before he could fire a distant explosion sent quivers through the ship and a large piece of a wall came flying straight into it. With the two wraith dead and their cell door ripped to shreds by the debris Ronon and Teyla grabbed the two stunners the wraith had dropped and rushed away from the explosion. Behind them they could hear shouting but they only hurried away from the voices. There were surprisingly few wraiths in the corridors and the only two they faced were standing outside a door, moments before Ronon and Teyla shoot them and stepped through the door seconds later. On the other side of the door was the bridge where six wraiths were working on the consoles. Both Teyla and Ronon tapped their triggers quickly when they stepped inside and saw the wraith hit the floor.

"Can you find out where we are?" Ronon asked. He was circling around the consoles and tried to find a place where he had plenty of cover from all angles and could fire in all directions.

"It should be no problem," Teyla replied. She had already begun to search through the database. "We appear to be in orbit above a populated world with a space gate."

"Alright, let's take a dart and escape. There's a battle outside, they will not even notice that we're gone before we're at the gate." In the distance weapons fire could be heard and it was slowly coming closer.

"The hive launched all darts to battle with another fleet of hives. Four gives on the other side and this hive was accompanied by two hives. The ship's log show that this side launched all their darts to stop the other hives from culling the planet below."

"I thought the hives culled planets alone or with a compliment of cruisers?"

"There is a spire on the world below which this side had captured. The wraith seem to value it highly."

"Set the hive to crash into this spire. We can take one of those shuttles they use to travel between their ships." Outside the room the sound of battle was almost upon them.

"This hive had one such shuttle Ronon, it was taken down to the planet. We are stuck here on this hive unless we can land."

"So we dock with one of the cruisers and steal it instead."

"This is the only wraith ship which is still intact. The last wraith ship was destroyed half an hour ago. Another fleet of four ships attacked both of the wraith fleets. Two more ships joined that fleet minutes ago. The hive seem to think that one of the other ships is an Aurora."

"Sheppard. It has to be him. He's the only one in the galaxy who has that thing in his blood in the amounts to pilot that."

"It is called DNA Ronon and we can not know that it is Sheppard and the hive does not recognise the other five ships, Earth's ships are well known among the wraith, the hive would know them."

"In either case we are out of time," Ronon said as a group of wraith warriors backed into the bridge through a door. Instantly Ronon was on his feet and took down four wraiths before they knew what had happened. Teyla was only moments slower than Ronon to dash for the nearby door, but it was enough for one of the wraith to hit her in the leg and she felt her body collapsing under her. Almost before she had begun to fall he was there and supported her but she knew she would only slow him down and pushed him away from her. With the one arm that did as she ordered it she pushed herself up against the wall and took the stunner in a firmer grip. She saw a wraith circling around to her right but she was too slow and instead took down the wraith the came from the left. To the right she saw the wraith she had missed coming closer, but it moved too quickly between cover for her to shoot, then it was upon her. To her surprise it only looked down quickly at her and snatched the stunner out of her hand before it disappeared through the same door as Ronon. Following it came a number of wraith who did the same. Finally one of the wraith stopped at her and sat down on her legs. Viciously it pulled back its hand and prepared to feed, then the wraith's hot and thick blood splashed over her and it fell over her. Its weight was immense when she could not control her own muscles and she felt the huge creature crushing her and pushing the air from her lungs. As she lay there she felt powerful hands grabbing her arm and pulling her away from the wraith which was pulled the other way. Her head refused to move but she could feel someone gently placing one hand on either side of her head and turning it so she looked backwards.

"Everything's alright Teyla. We're here to rescue you," someone said. From outside her field of vision she saw the form of a man getting into it. It took her a few moments to recognise the cream white Lantean uniform that Major Rutherford, the one standing above her, was wearing.

"Major," a voice said. "The jamming field is down, we can beam back."

"Sergeant, take Teyla back to the ship," Rutherford ordered. Straight away someone was there and helped her onto her feet. Then she heard the comforting sound of the Asgard transporter and saw the blinding light.

* * *

In the hangar of the hive ship Ronon was running down one of the platforms with four wraiths grabbing after him. Without notice he was beamed away and ran into something hard. He pressed his hand forward and felt the glass with his hand, on the other side he saw the lone hive which was wenting atmosphere. "Everyone is safely back on board," someone said behind him.

"Open fire," another voice said from behind. A second later four orange streams of plasma bolts flew towards the hive and cleaved it. When the hive was torn apart he spun around and looked towards the control chair. A few internal explosions helped sever it into smaller pieces which scattered throughout the debris field the wraith fleet had formed.

"It is good to see you Ronon Dex," Teal'c said from the control chair. "We had thought you lost."

"I was a runner, I can take care of myself. Teal'c," Ronon replied. With quick steps he walked up to Teal'c and grabbed the arm that was offered him. "But I am glad that you came to rescue us. Have you located Teyla, we were separated during our escape."

"She was stunned and taken directly to the ship's medical facilities. They are observing her until she is fully recovered. Colonel Sheppard will be most happy to hear that you are alive."

"We're ready to go," Doctor Rush said from their side. He had arrived on the bridge seconds before along with Eli and a heavy crate which had been carried there by two soldiers.

"We are still waiting for confirmation from Colonel Sheppard and Colonel Young that they have secured the facility," Teal'c informed.

"Colonel Sheppard's down on the planet?" Ronon asked.

"Indeed, he is capturing a Lantean facility taken by the wraith."

"Send me down to help," Ronon said, anger blooming in his voice.


	6. Chapter 6

Inside the cramped transport booth Sheppard, Scott and their men stood anxious as the doors slowly closed and opened again. Two wraiths stood there and waited when the doors opened. They fired into the transporter as fast as their weapons allowed, but they only managed to fell one of Lieutenant Scott's men before Sheppard ordered them all forward out of the small booth. They spread out in the corridor outside and were faced with fierce resistance from the wraith.

"Colonel Young, we've secured the immediate area but we could use backup," Sheppard said into his com badge. Behind him a group of men came through almost immediately. It took half a minute before the next group came through with the others close behind.

"We're going this way," Sheppard said. He had recognised one of the drapings which hang on the wall and led the men away from it.

"Colonel Sheppard my warriors have surrounded your position. Lay down your weapons and I will let your men go," a wraith's voice sounded through the city's speakers.

"Todd," Sheppard growled when he heard the familiar wraith voice. "Alright people let's get a move on."

"A friend of yours?" Young asked.

"Far from it and yet I guess he is." Together the two led the column of soldiers through the corridor and into what on Atlantis was the control room but here it was used as a gallery and in the gate room below the control chair was sitting where the gate should have been. Waiting for them were less than twenty wraith warriors around the control chair and Todd, who was standing behind the other wraiths.

"Give up Sheppard. I have hundreds of warriors in the tower and the tunnels below, your small forces can not hope to take this," Todd shouted, his voice trembled as each word passed over his lips. "Turn around now and I guarantee that my forces will not cull you when you leave."

"Come on Todd we both know that's not what's going to happen." Slowly Sheppard walked down the stairs towards the wraith, most of the men followed two steps behind him while Colonel Young and a small group went straight for the control room's consoles. His men were all pointing their weapons on the wraiths in front of them but Sheppard lowered his weapon when he approached. While he approached them he concentrated and mentally felt his surroundings. For each step he took the telepathic bonds between the wraiths became more apparent and he could feel their thoughts. Todd's panicking thoughts stood out above the others' and he savoured the panic as he approached.

"You're brave to challenge a wraith's mind Colonel Sheppard," Todd heaved forward.

"Things have changed since we last met Todd. I'm sure I'm more than a match for you." The wraith parted as he walked forward through them to Todd. He could feel Todd's breaking under his will as he mentally pushed him.

"Colonel Sheppard. We've disabled the jamming field." The words came from the control room above and fractured Sheppard's concentration. Instantly the wraith were upon them and his men fired into them. Savagely the wraiths tried to pierce them with their rifles and feed on them but the soldiers' shields kept them safe as they mowed down the wraith. It was over in seconds and then the soldiers formed a ring around Todd and Sheppard.

* * *

"Colonel Sheppard the jamming field has been disabled. Are we clear to beam down your assistance?" Teal'c said into his com badge.

-We're securing the entrances to this level now, stand by,- Sheppard replied.

"I would like to go with them if I may," Bra'tac said from behind the control chair.

"I will go as well," Ronon said.

A thought from Teal'c brought up a large hologram of the tower below with all lifesigns marked out as red and blue dots. A large concentration of blue dots, the humans, were in the top of the tower while the red, wraith, were concentrated in the subterranean section of the city with a few patrols higher up. "You may do so. I will have weapons brought for you."

In the back of the bridge a soldier took the cue and ducked out of the bridge.

"Do we get anything to defend ourselves with?" Eli asked. He and Doctor Rush were both standing close to the crate they had brought with them next to the control chair.

"You do not," Teal'c replied.

"Here you go Sir," the soldier that had left the bridge a minute before returned with two of the Traveler pistols and handed one each to Bra'tac and Ronon.

"It works much like the Tau'ri weapons but fires a blast like a staff," Teal'c explained to Bra'tac.

"They'll kill any wraith we manage to find," Ronon said. He was spinning the pistol in his hand and reveled in the familiar feeling he had missed for the last months. "Is there any swords on this ship?"

"There is not."

-We're ready to receive,- Sheppard's voice came through Teal'c's com badge.

"Thank you Colonel Sheppard. We will be beaming momentarily," Teal'c said and tapped his com badge. "Take care old man."

"I will," Bra'tac said and covered his mouth as he coughed. A moment later he, Ronon, Eli, Rush and the crate was enveloped in a bright flash.

* * *

In a flash of light Sheppard saw the four appear in front of him. The flash had just disappeared when he saw one of the four figures moving, he had just time to register that it was Ronon before a red bolt flashed past his face. He spun around and saw Todd taking the blast straight to the face and falling backwards onto the hard metal floor. As the seconds passed the four men who had guarded Todd stared at the downed wraith they had been standing next to while Ronon stormed towards them. When Ronon was about to pass Sheppard the Colonel took a firm grip around his arm. Like he used to Ronon tried to shrug it off but Sheppard's grip was far firmer than normal and did not even budge. "You're gun had better be set to stun," Sheppard growled as he pulled Ronon back with only one arm. "Who knows what information he could have?"

"I don't care. He tortured both me and Teyla for months." Again he tried to break free but Sheppard's single hand was enough to hold him in place.

"That's how he knew about this place?" Sheppard asked and loosened his grip.

"Colonel, he's dead," one of the soldiers who had guarded Todd said.

"Good," Ronon growled. He broke free from Sheppard's grip and walked up to Todd's body. With calm determination he shot the corps three more times before putting the gun back in its holster. "He had eight queens force their way into her mind, eight of them Sheppard. They knew about this world but all hives avoided it because of this tower, when he learned that we had made them defenseless he took the entire fleet he commanded here."

"Is Teyla alright?"

"They're treating her on Teal'c's ship."

"If you two are done we could use some help," Rush interrupted.

"Go." Sheppard motioned for the guards to assist and the four hurried to pick up the heavy crate.

"Teal'c has talked much of your prowess in battle, Ronon of Sateda. I must say that you far surpass the stories he has told," Bra'tac praised when he walked up to the two and put a hand on Ronon's shoulder.

"Colonel, we will need your assistance," Eli said from the control chair.

"I'll be right there," Sheppard said and turned back to Ronon. "It's good to see you again Ronon. When this is all over I want to hear all about how you and Teyla ended up in Todd's hands. Why don't you show Bra'tac how good those guns are Ronon? There's a balcony behind the control chair, if you're lucky you might find some wraiths to kill." With rapid steps he hurried over to the control chair and swiped his hand over the ZPM's lid. It took a second before the lid popped up and the empty slot below was revealed. From inside the heavy crate Rush took a ZPM and placed it gently into the slot, greedily the slot swallowed the ZPM and the control chair lit up when Sheppard sat down.

"We're going to run a few diagnostics but we should be good to go if everything's working properly," Rush said. Both he and Eli removed computer tablets from the crate and plugged them into the chair through ports on the side of the base. Behind them they heard the sound of the Traveler guns firing.

"Try to activate some minor system now," Eli said after a while. With a thought Sheppard searched for something that responded to his commands. Finally the roof above screeched to life as it slowly parted and massive amounts of dust begun to rain down. Throughout the control room the drapes and tapestries begun to flicker when the ventilation came to life and the raining dust disappeared as fast as it had appeared.

"Everything looks good on my screen," Eli said.

"Hm… I see no reason not to power up the rest of the city," Rush said.

"Alright, here goes," Sheppard said. He concentrated and in a few seconds he had managed to get a few drones into the air to chase down some wraiths who were running around the base of the tower. With pinpoint accuracy the drones slammed into the wraiths and bored through them, then they headed back to the city for the next time they would be needed. Next he slowly gave the shield emitters power and the shield slowly grew around the city. Finally he activated the city's subspace link and felt Jack's thought flood together when the Tower connected to Atlantis and the two control chairs linked their users.

~Well this feels odd,~ Jack's thought rushed into his mind.

~I've got to agree Sir,~ Sheppard replied in his thoughts.

~Start to transmit the Tower's database. I will send a team of engineers with Asurans to repair the stardrive.~

~What's the stardrive's status?~

~It's on your end Colonel, I can't tell.~

~Sorry Sir, that was meant to be loud and not here.~ "Doctor Rush what's the stardrive's status?" this time he managed to get the words out loud.

"Some of the outer segments are badly damaged. We might be able to take off but I don't think we should," Eli said.

"Still the drive's in great shape after being stuck underground for so long. Destiny was in far worse shape. I don't see any problem as long as you're careful," Rush interjected.

~Sir we might be able to move the city if necessary,~ Sheppard thought.

~I heard every word through the chair Colonel. I think I have full access to your systems Sheppard.~

Testing the link Sheppard sought out Atlantis' systems and tried to do something, finally he managed to open and close some doors. ~Copy that Sir, I think I can access some of Atlantis minor systems from here.~

~I will ask Mokar about the link later Colonel. For now wait and keep the city safe, the engineers will be there within the hour. Use that time to recover the planet's stargate.~

~Yes Sir.~ A thought from him shut down the shield and the chair. "General O'Neill is sending us a team of engineers to assist with repairs of primary systems. Compile a list of everything they need to fix for us to take this city safely back to Atlantis and have them move the control chair we will have a stargate here soon."  
"We're right on it," Eli said.

While he walked away from the chair Sheppard tapped his com badge. "Colonel Young do you read?"

-This is Young.-

"How are things going?"

-We have secured the entire tower and are sweeping the rest of the city using handscanners. It will take us a couple of hours to finish the sweep of the inner city.-

"Copy that Colonel. General O'Neill is sending a repair team to assist us with repairing the city, they'll be here within an hour. I will ask Teal'c to beam away an wraiths he detects."

-Copy that.-

Another tap on Sheppard's com badge switched receiver. "Teal'c I'm going to need you to bring the planet's stargate here."

-I have dispatched a ship to recover it,- Teal'c responded half a minute later.

* * *

"Thank you General O'Neill," Mokar said into his com badge. He had just received a data transfer from Atlantis with the new information that McKay had asked for.

-I hope the data's worth it Mokar, we just pissed off the wraith. They've got to know that we're back by now.-

"Until the Milky Way is safe we will wage this war with the wraith defensively. With this second city we can move large numbers of humans and Lanteans. We can safely hide our population away from the wraith until a time when we can face them."

-Carter's Asurans have made great progress on the Nest. We're going to have to construct a new shipyard for its fighters though.-

"I'm well aware of that General. We will have to see to that problem soon."

-I agree. We're starting to outgrow our infrastructure.-

"Yes we are. We shall discuss it when I return. I will return within a day, for now I must talk to the Asgard." A tap on the com badge closed the channel while he stepped away from the console in the station's control room and headed over to Rodney who was sitting in the control chair. A blizzard of holograms were circling around his head as he was going through the data.

"There's a ton of data here, it's going to take some time before I can find what I need. But I know we're already on the right path, there's thousands of experiments, ideas and inventions that the Lanteans filed after they lost contact with Atlantis. If nothing else there's a few upgrades we might want to implement. They might not be as smart as you Alterra but they did manage some things."

"I trust you know what you're saying Doctor but for now you need to get the new generator working."

"Yes yes of course, but Zelenka should look at this. Just some of those I've come across so far could boost our ships shield strength by twelve percent and decrease the power drain of Atlantis' shield when bombarded by the wraith by as much as thirty four percent."

"I will see to it that the entire database is analysed when we have the manpower. If you can handle things here I will need to get back to Atlantis."

"It will probably take me a few days to search through the database for the correct file and then a few days, a week at the most, to apply the new shielding to the reactor. I will contact you when I have some results."

"Thank you," Mokar said before slipping away.

He hurried to the lab the Asgard were using. Just inside the door to the lab Looki waited for him. He held a small data unit in his hand. "I think I may have a way of breaking through the jamming without the correct code. It will filter away the sensory disturbances that my work is creating. Most of the jamming seem to be coming from my work but I believe that you may still receive inconclusive readings. I would advise caution." His grey hand reached out and Mokar carefully took the data unit from Loki's hand. "Should you find the Vanir it is our joint wish that they be left alone until we can finish our project here. We wish to use the bodies that come from this project to bring them back into our society."

"You have high hopes for this then?"

From the Alterran console nearby Thor approached them. "Yes. The few hours we have spent here has given us much already. Heimdall has found several complete Asgard genomes within the station's database that has told us much about what we have lost."

"This station has access to all files within Atlantis' database and the wast knowledge it holds as well as a few things the Alterra learned after ascending."

"We will use it all to solve the genetic defects. This project marks a new chapter in Asgard history, after thousands of years of failed experiments we can finally advance as a race again. It will be a new start for the Asgard and a great deal will need to be changed within our society."

Mokar sunk down on one knee so he could look the two Asgard in the eyes without looking down. "We will be here to help and assist you Thor." He looked to Loki. "Thank you for this, I will wait to test this so that we do not alert the Vanir before you have finished your work."

"That would be most appreciated," Loki said.

"Indeed," Thor said.

Mokar rose and concentrated on the station's transporter. With a shift of colours the surrounding lab changed to the bridge of the Odyssey. By his orders it had already left the hangar and was moving away from the station at sublight. When he was onboard it automatically opened a hyperspace window.


	7. Chapter 7

"General O'Neill," Camille Wray said when she stepped into the commander's office next to the control room that he was currently occupying. Her tone was harsh, cold and sharp. "I would like to know what has happened since we lost contact with Earth."

"We have recorded it all in the city's database. You are free to use the city's holo room or any console within the city to learn what has happened," Jack replied from the chair behind the desk. Just like his other office in the city the desk was filled with tablets and memory sticks with reports waiting for him to go through.

"General, I would prefer it if you took the time to tell me personally and I am sure that the IOA would too."

"I'm sure you would but as I just said I have to go through these reports."

"I am an IOA representative, you're obliged to cooperate with me General."

"I'm not obliged to do anything," Jack flamed up.

"Need I remind you that the SGC is under IOA control."

"Guards!" It took only moments for the guards to run across the bridge to the office. "Take her down to the holo room. She's not to leave until she has gone through the entire recorded history of the Alterra."

"Yes Sir," the two guards said and grabbed one arm each.

"If you still do not understand what has transpired you're free to come back."

In complete silence Wray was walked away from the office. Almost immediately after Wray and her guards had crossed the bridge Zelenka rose from his workstation and hurried into the office.

"General, I thought you might want to know that we've successfully purged the foreign code from the city's system. We're working on a fix to patch this out of the fleet's sensors permanently."

"Do we know the origin of this problem?" Jack asked. His tone was slightly harsher than he had liked but it would do.

"It's nothing we did General," Zelenka said defensively.

"I'm not accusing you Doctor, I just want to know where the problem came from so we can avoid it in the future." This time Jack managed to hold a calm tone.

"Well it's a wraith computer virus, essentially it's an Artificial Intelligence with a specific objective."

"The Daedalus was compromised by such a virus, it took a large effort of the crew to gate the ship back under control. Have you made sure that there's no remains of the virus?"

"We are absolutely certain. The one encountered by the Daedalus was far more advanced, the wraith have had thousands of years to improve it. This one was never programmed to defend itself like the one encountered by the Daedalus. We wiped everything the Lanteans did to the sensors and restored the Alterran programing, there's no trace of the virus in any of the city's systems. We're taking precautions to make sure that the sensor protocols can't be permanently altered like this again."

"That sounds good to me Doctor."

"There's a downside to this General." Nervously Zelenka played with his fingers on the tablet in his hand.

"Which would be?"

"There's a lot more wraith fleets flying around out there than we had originally assumed." Hesitantly Zelenka handed Jack the tablet. "That's a live feed from the city's sensors."

"That's a lot of ships," Jack said reluctantly. On the tablet he saw more red dots than he could count moving slowly around on the screen.

"Seventy four fleets to be exact. And that's only the section of Pegasus that our sensors are able to scan. We estimate somewhere between five hundred and a thousand fleets in total, we will have more accurate numbers once we have removed the virus from every sensor we control. It's likely that this virus would have spread to any ships in contact with Atlantis since the city became infected."

"That's a lot of ships Doctor. Prioritise the purge."

"Well if fitts much better with an analysis that Rodney and I have been doing. The eighty some hives we thought existed in Pegasus were just too few. The Lanteans had an impressive fleet and when Atlantis is fully powered its shield can stand up to almost anything as long as power is available, the Lanteans could simply have brought the city to the wraith and used it against them if the wraith only had around eighty hives. We think that the wraith armada that defeated the Lanteans numbered into the thousands, maybe as many as five or six thousand."

"I thought the wraith were limited by their food sources, human worlds."

"Yes yes of course, but we're talking about an entire galaxy here General. Billions of planets, millions of stargates and habitable planets and a thousand societies to spread and grow. There's no telling how many worlds they populated before the wraith begun to cull them. We could be talking billions of humans. That would support hundreds of thousands of hives and if the wraith are smart enough to clone humans I see no reason not to think that there could be human farms which supplement the wraith cullings."

"I thought that the Atlantis expedition had met mostly small settlements?"

"Yes, but we've been keeping the exploring mostly to this part of the galaxy just in case our 304s needed to come to their aid and the average population density increases the further away from the city we get. There might be worlds with a million inhabitants deeper in wraith territory."

"Thank you Doctor," Jack sighed. "Anything else?"

"The Traveler ships restored by Colonel Sheppard and Larrin will soon arrive in orbit. They're already reporting in hull breaches on many of the ships and around a quarter are being towed after burning out their hyperdrives."

"Have them set down on the mainland next to the agricultural domes if possible. I will go to greet them."

"I will have someone see to it. You can inform Doctor Jackson and Colonel Sheppard that the virus will have no effect on their mission, it only hides wraith ships from the sensors."

"I will, thank you."

* * *

Onboard the Odyssey Mokar was sitting in the Captain's chair and watched an old documentary that he had found in the ship. It was about some long forgotten war fought on the plains of what now was southern Spain but he still thought that it gave a decent insight into the way humans evolved and their history. He felt an enormous presence approaching and stood up to greet it. He could see it through the viewport as a white dot with a tail. From the port side it raced into the path of the Odyssey and grew in size. Suddenly it was standing there on the bridge with him. The jellyfish like form of the ascended quickly formed into the woman he had spoken to the earlier.

He bowed his head in greeting. " _Hello Sister."_

She stayed quiet for a few seconds and her appearance changed and became even more human until she finally stood on the floor in full corporal form. She wore a white robe identical to the one he was wearing and her straight mahogany brown hair was hanging down on her back. Finally she bowed her head too. " _Hello again brother."_

" _It is good to see you again. How is the war against the Ori going?"_

" _We have pushed back the Ori. We have cut down their numbers considerably. It will take time before they are ready to attack again, but we are already losing power. Still our main worry is that their power will concentrate to the remaining Ori before their next attack. We will need to out number them even more next time."_

" _We are soon ready to start our war on the wraith and when we do the humans of Pegasus will no doubt bring you more power. I imagine that many on Earth will also see you as gods when we show them the truth about their existence."_

" _You know well Brother that we do not want to be seen as gods. We take the power that people freely offer us but we do not want to take it from them."_

" _I know Sister. Most humans already believe in a higher power such as ascended beings, in my eyes it would be better that they believed in you than in something else."_

" _I will not lie to you Brother, Earth is giving of incredible amounts of power. It would boost our power tenfold if we could take it. But I suggest that you be careful, we can feel that power flowing away and something outside our territory is already harvesting it. If you take it all away I do not think we will be able to hold our ground if it comes after you and Earth."_

" _I will heed that advice Sister. I would think that you would not come here simply to talk Sister. May I ask what has brought you here?"_

" _You are correct brother."_ She touched his head on both sides and pulled his head against hers. " _It has been decided that you shall be free of the programing forced upon you. You have shown that you do not need our guidance to make the right decisions Brother."_ His head tingled for a few moments but he felt the urges he had had forced upon him go away. " _That should be it."_

As she pulled away he could feel the troubles he had running of him. " _Thank you Sister, I will still carry out my duty to our people."_

" _You do not have any duties towards our people Brother. Your duties lie with those who follow you Brother not with us who have ascended."_

" _You are my people as much as those I guide. I will assist you in any way I can. If something comes after you when I have taken Earth back we will build a bomb, like the one sent to the Ori, to kill any ascended in the solar system. If it comes to that I do not wish any of our brothers and sisters too die in the blast."_

" _We will assist you as well Brother, when we can. For now we have managed to free our borders and we're pushing back any aggressors even further, but I do not think it will be long before we all must return to the borders."_ She held out her hands in front of her and the air began to shiver. A large steel box begun to form in the air, after a few seconds it had completely materialised. He reached out and opened the lid. A large rack of crystalline stones rose up. " _I think you will need these. For now these stones are the only way to evolve someone to Alterran standards. Myself and two others are searching for a way to do it but so far we have found no other way. Until we do I will do my best to refill this for you Brother."_

He took the box from her hands and placed it next to the Captain's chair. " _Thank you Sister. I will use them wisely."_

" _I know you will brother. The humans that you have within your closest circle are all worthy, some even more than those born as Alterra. They are all worthy of becoming Alterran."_

" _Still I will make my selections carefully. Some may not be ready for the power over others that being Alterran brings, to be able to influence weaker minds at will is a power I will not give to others lightly."_

" _You are wise beyond your years Brother. The others respect you highly for this, as do I. But it is time for me to leave. You will soon be arriving at Atlantis and the Travelers have just done so too. I myself will have to return to my research."_

He placed a hand on her arm and led her forward. " _You have lived an eternity Sister, stay with me a while longer and watch our glorious city. You have the time to spare."_

Together they stood and watched the Odyssey leave hyperspace just outside the atmosphere. A few dozen ships were waiting in orbit above the planet and they could see six ships descending into the atmosphere of the planet.

" _Perhaps you are right Brother, perhaps I should stay a little while."_ Together they stood and watched the magnificent city that Atlantis was coming towards them. " _We have seen so much and know so much that we have a hard time stopping and seeing these moments. You would be surprised what sort of things we know."_

" _Try me sister."_

" _At this moment there is almost five hundred thousand Jaffa who in some way show their devotion to us Alterra, they do not know our true name; yet they pray to us and ask for our help. There were even two Jaffa in Atlantis who prayed to us today, both Teal'c and Bra'tac can become great allies if you allow them to. The old man will need one of the stones I gave you soon or he will not live to be that allie. I can also tell you that we have destroyed three more Ori ships who came through the supergate a little while ago, we will destroy them if we can, but you will need to block that gate soon. We will not be able to hold the gate if the Ori themselves come through it when they regain their full power. But when you do chose to go through that gate know that we will have your back Brother."_

" _You do indeed know much."_ Outside the towers of Atlantis passed by and the mainland beyond begun to take up a larger space on the horizon.

" _Yes I do Brother. There is one more thing you should know Brother, our views about Destiny have changed many times over the millennia. It is no longer our place to say what you should do with her Brother, do with her what you think is best. Seek your own path Brother."_

" _You would have me see her mission through?"_

" _I would have you do what you believe is best Brother. There are many thoughts about her mission but there are few truths that we know about her mission. All this time and we still do not know where the pattern she seeks come from or what the pattern is. As you know Brother many things can change what is seen as the truth. But we have always sought knowledge to determine the pure, unchanged truth. Perhaps Destiny can bring you new knowledge or perhaps her whole mission has been a great waste and you will only find emptiness when she arrives. There is still much time left on her journey but to us it is only a mere blink, still she will need your assistance to complete it."_

" _Thank you Sister, you have given me much to think about."_

" _Act upon what you think is best Brother, think it through but act before it is too late."_

" _I will. Sister, may I ask your name?"_

" _My name is Languoreth Brother, but to us names matter little. I will visit you when I can." She begun to glow and in moments she was a featureless ball of light. She floated towards the forward viewport and was gone without a trace._


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:** I'll be going on a vacation and will not be able to post for three Sundays. To fix this little problem I'll post a chapter today (this one), one in the morning tomorrow and one in the evening. Next chapter posted on schedule will be chapter 11 on the 7th of August. I'd love to come back here and see a few reviews.

 **A/N 2:** Writing on Book 4 has begun so if anyone has any ideas about what you'd like to see in that book feel free to post them. Both good and bad ideas are welcome.

Jack stood on the shore of the mainland and watched the Odyssey land a few hundred meters away. Around him four jumpers and some of the more senior SGC personnel waited. They waited for the Traveler ships but it seemed Mokar had returned with the Odyssey just before the Travelers. In a white flash he appeared right next to them with the crate. "General O'Neill how are things?"

"Well the Tower's been secured and Doctor Zelenka has managed to wipe the wraith virus from Atlantis and has begun work on purging the fleet's sensors. But it seems there is a hell of a lot more hives out there, Zelenka estimate that it can be as many as a thousand hives."

"That is troublesome news indeed but at least we know now what we will be up against."

"Yes. I experienced something weird with Shepard when they reclaimed the Tower. We could communicate with thoughts when we both sat in the control chairs."

"The control chairs we use in our cities and outposts is different than those we use on our ships. They have powerful subspace links that are the backbone of our communications network, they act much like relays and hubs. As you have experienced they can link the minds of those connected to the network too, I would have informed you if I knew that there were more active chairs in this galaxy."

"It's fine, we just got a bit surprised." In front of them one of the huge traveler ships descended and plenty of landing struts deployed. As the ship touched down the ancient struts gave away and the ship plowed into the ground. Two smaller ships landed gently next to the large ship and barely succeeded to avoid crashing into the ground as some of their landing struts gave away too.

Jack pressed the com badge and connected to Atlantis internal speakers. "All medical personnel on duty report to the infirmary, the Traveler ships have arrived and may be in need of medical assistance. Doctor Beckett please join us on the mainland with a medical team."

Ever so slowly the three remaining ships, one large and two smaller, descended without using their landing gear. Finally they all came to rest on the ground.

Right next to Mokar and O'Neill Carson and his medical team beamed in. "What's happening General?" Carson asked.

"You're here as a precaution just in case things are as bad as they look Doctor." On the side of one of the large ships a panel crashed to the ground.

They stood there and waited for almost a minute. "Somethin g is not as it should General," Mokar said.

"Alright people lets get them out of there," Jack ordered. With an array of tools his men hurried forward to the closest ship.

"General O'Neill, something is not right on those ships. Reach out and feel it, there is no people on that ship."

Jack concentrated and reached out with his mind. He felt the hull of the ship with his mind, then he pressed inside and scoured the ship. He felt something moving around inside but there were no minds that he could feel. Then he felt a mind, it was strong and it oozed with rage. Before Jack could stop them the men had cut through the hull and a large plate fell of the side. Inside the ship Mokar and Jack could feel hundreds of wraiths waking up and before either one had the time to warn the men the wraith were surging out of the ship like a tide. The men fired back but the wraith were too many.

Jack shouldered his gun and started to fire, next to him he felt a massive gathering of power. A few moments later Mokar released the power, in front of the duo the grass rippled as the shockwave rolled forward. A moment later the wraith and the men were thrown into the side of the ship. The entire side of the huge ship ruptured under the force Mokar had released and tore through the ship as it slowly dissipated.

From the pile of wraith corpses the men rose and hurried back to Jack and Mokar with a small army of wraith behind them. Next to Jack Mokar collapsed on the ground.

"Grab him and spread out into the jumpers," Jack shouted as he mowed down another group of wraith who were coming at them from one of the breaches Mokar had created. A hail of blue bolts came at them and hit their shields. Two of the men stopped next to Jack and helped him slow down the approaching wraith. The right man tapped his shoulder and drew Jack's attention to a group of wraith coming from one of the smaller traveler ships. A drone shot past him and blew a large hole in the wraiths' ranks, then another and another.

With the drones providing cover fire Jack and the two men hurried to the loone jumper which was waiting for them on the ground. As soon as they came inside the jumper took of. A hail of blue stun bolts came flying into the jumper and Jack felt his shield failing and everything darkening. As the jumper gained air the bolts stopped coming. A few wraiths were hanging in the rear hatch and one of the men hurried to kick them off. A wraith grabbed his leg and he fell down into the horde of wraiths. A second later the second man saw a few wraith fingers and hands tumble down onto the floor of the jumper when the hatch was sealed.

* * *

Moments later the jumpers all landed inside Odyssey's hangar and the men hurried outside. Straight away the highest ranking officer, a Lieutenant Colonel, took charge. "Anyone know how to fly this ship?"

"I´ve got basic training Sir," a captain said.

"Good." He turned to another man. "Major you're handling weapons."

The Lieutenant Colonel led the way onto the bridge. There the Captain and the Major sat down at the consoles on either side of the captain's chair, which the Lieutenant Colonel sat down in. Some of the men had brought Jack and Mokar with them onto the bridge and they were placed in two empty chairs. The rest of the men sat down where they could.

"Hold on to something, this might get a bit bumpy," the Captain said. Slowly she eased the ship up from the ground and into the air.

"Major, destroy those ships," the Lieutenant Colonel ordered.

"Colonel, the sensors are detecting extremely faint human life signs inside those ships, there's thousands of them if I read this correctly," someone shouted across the bridge.

"Alright, focus fire on the wraith who leave the ships," the Lieutenant Colonel said.

"Yes Sir," the Major said. A few seconds later the railguns begun to spew out red hot slugs into the horde of wraith below.

Someone on the bridge locked on to the fallen man's subspace transmitter and he and three wraith were beamed directly onto the bridge. One of the wraiths were feeding on the man but released its grip when they were beamed onto the ship, a split second later the wraith were beamed away and Carson and his medical team hurried to help the man.

"We'll need to take all three of them to Atlantis for proper treatment." Carson gestured towards Jack, Mokar and the man that had been feed on.

"Of course Doctor," the Lieutenant Colonel said. "Beam them directly to the infirmary." In a flash of light they were beamed away.

-What's going on? We're detecting wraiths on the mainland.- It was a sharp female voice that came through the com badges of everyone on the bridge.

"The traveler ships carried wraiths with them Ma'am," the Lieutenant Colonel responded into the com badge. "We're detecting faint human life signs inside the ships. There may be humans in stasis on those ships."

He had just finished the sentence when Carter beamed onto the bridge. She looked around for a second before walking up to the Lieutenant Colonel. "Where's Jack?"

"General O'Neill was stunned when the wraith ambushed us. Doctor Beckett has taken the General, Mokar and one of the men to the infirmary."

"Can we lock onto the human life signs?"

"They're too faint Ma'am," someone replied.

"Well then, radio both Atlantis and the dome farms. I want their shields up just in case something happens. See if Atlantis can contact the Traveler ships in orbit, if they can't we're going to assume they're hostile. She taped the com badge. "Daniel."

-Oh, hello Sam,- Daniel replied from Earth.

"Listen Daniel we've got a situation here. I could use any men you can spare back on Atlantis right now. I'd prefer if they're Travelers."

-Uhm this is sort of bad timing.- In the background she could hear something exploding. -I just launched a counteroffensive on the last of the Nobility's bunkers in Denmark. We're sort of occupied here.-

"Just send me your reserves Daniel, we have a wraith army on the mainland who may have taken prisoners."

-Oh, uhm, sure. Just don't expect too much from them.-

"Thanks Daniel," Sam said and tapped the com badge again to change receiver. "Teal'c, come in."

-Colonel Carter, how may I be of assistance?- Teal'c replied.

"Can you spare any ships?"

"Colonel Carter." She just registred the voice when the ship shook violently. "The wraith have activated the weapons of the Traveler ships."

"How's our shields looking?"

"We've yet to raise them Colonel."

"Raise them."

-Colonel Sheppard have raised the shields of the city and its defenses are operational. I see no reason for my fleet to remain here,- Teal'c said.

"Copy that Teal'c, bring your fleet back to Atlantis and make sure nothing comes and goes from the planet."

-We will return at full speed Colonel Carter.-

"Thank you Teal'c." Another tap closed the channel.

"Ma'am, permission to take out wraith controlled weapons."

"Granted," Sam said. She watched the railguns cut away one turret after another.

"Hostile ship is disarmed."

"Thank you."

-Colonel Carter,- Zelenka's voice said. -Doctor Jackson has sent some men from Earth, where should we direct them?-

"How many did he send?"

-Thirty four.-

"Alright, beam them over to Odyssey's hangar as soon as you can."

-Will do Colonel.-

"Thanks Radek." She tapped the com badge to switch it off again. "Can we beam the wraith out of the ship?"

"Yes Ma'am," the Captain replied. "It will take a few hours but we can do it."

"Could we not simply flush them out?" the Major asked.

"I do not think we have the men to do so Major," Sam said.

"We could literally do it."

"You mean that we beam water into the ship," Sam said when she realised what the Major meant.

"Yes Ma'am, the wraith should come squirting out along with the water."

"We risk drowning any humans on those ships Colonel," the Lieutenant Colonel protested.

"You have a go Major, take one deck at a time."

"Yes Ma'am." The Major pressed a button and a few seconds later water began to stream out of the hole in the ship.

"A few of the human life signs have been sucked out of the ship Ma'am," the Captain said.

"Go down and collect them Colonel, the men in the hangar are yours," Carter ordered.

"Yes Ma'am." The Lieutenant Colonel saluted and hurried away from the bridge.

"Major, blow holes in the other ships and proceed to flush the wraith from them too.

"Yes Ma'am." With a series of short bursts the Major blew holes in the sides of the other ships. On the ground below the wraith kept dying as the railguns kept firing at them.

Through the viewport the crew could see the Lieutenant Colonel and the men under his command beaming down to the surface. Immediately the wraith turned towards them, but with the Odyssey bombarding them from above and the group picking of anyone coming too close the wraith were held in place. It took the men a few minutes to localise the first human in the ocean of wraith corpses, then another few seconds before a lifeless human was beamed onto the bridge.

Sam tapped her com badge to activate it. "Carson."

-Aye, what can I do for you Colonel?- the doctor answered quickly.

"We're about to beam a Traveler to you," she stepped over to the body and checked its pulse. "She's got a weak pulse but I think it could be because she was ripped from a wraith stasis pod."

-We'll see what we can do for her Colonel.-

In a white flash the Traveler was beamed away. "Thank you Carson. There could be hundreds more like her."

There were a few seconds of silence before Carson replied. -Well as far as I can tell she's got no external injuries. We'll do a body scan and see if there's anything we can do to wake her up.-

"Tell me when you have something."

-Aye.-


	9. Chapter 9

As yet another Traveler was beamed onto Odyssey's bridge Sam's com badge came to life. -Colonel Carter, I think that's the last of the Travelers,- the Colonel Lieutenant on the ground below said. -Our scanners detect no other life signs in the area.-

"Copy that Colonel, I will have you beamed back on board," Sam replied. "Can you bring back the data core from one of the ships, I'd like to find out how the wraith got on board the ships."

-Yes Ma'am.-

They had been beaming thousands of Travelers up from the ground during the last hours and then sending them on to Atlantis med bay. Even with the large numbers of Travelers Carson had made sure that each one of them were taken care of as best they could. It was just a short while ago that he had radioed her to inform her that Mokar had managed to wake the first from stasis, by running them through the stasis pods in Atlantis.

For more than four hours Teal'c and his fleet had been working over the planet to clear out the Traveler ships so even more Travelers were being recovered from those ships.

* * *

"It seems that these Travelers number into the thousand," Bra'tac said.

"That is correct. Previously some two and a half thousand of them were loaned to us in exchange for repairs to their ships and supplies. So far we have rescued several thousand more whom the wraith have put in stasis. It will take several weeks until we have awoken everyone," Mokar said.

The duo was walking through a corridor at the base of the central towers and along the walls of the corridor Travelers were lying, they all had a blue device attached around their throats' which would provide their bodies with everything they needed to stay alive in stasis for a few more days. It was a temporary measure, a device that Mokar had created with the help of the Asgard transporters installed on Atlantis. It was taxing the city's ZPMs greatly to create the thousand devices but it was what they needed to do to save the Travelers.

"Can you feed this many?" He covered his mouth as he coughed.

"We grow more than enough food to feed these people. When we constructed our farms Doctor Jackson insisted that we build more than we needed while we were already constructing them. We will have a sufficient surplus to trade with."

"Then perhaps I may ask that you consider trading with the free Jaffa? We are a people with many ancient traditions, but farming crops and breeding cattle is not things that the Jaffa have any traditions of. We are having a hard time learning what we need to know to provide ourselves with food. The Jaffa do not have much more than our skills to trade with. I fear that the reign that the Jaffa enforced under the Goa'uld is something that the humans of the Milky Way will not overlook for many generations to come." Again he coughed.

"Of course, the Alterra will be more than happy to trade with the free Jaffa. I only wish to know what you offer in return?"

"I have the allegiance of two Ha'tak motherships that I would be willing to give you command of as long as they are not used against other Jaffa. Other than that we have only our lives to offer you, when I left Dakara the supplies of the Jaffa were already low. Certain Jaffa believed that we should attack human worlds and take their food. If the Jaffa must become mere mercenaries selling themselves for food to survive then it will be so."

"Do not think that I would give the Jaffa food only to take their lives away from them, a deal made with the Alterra is almost always favorable for the other party. I will not lie to you Master Bra'tac, the deal that I offer you will help the Alterra too, but it will be favorable for you."

"A deal should be as favourable for both parties. One side should not gain more than the other."

"You are very much correct Master Bra'tac, but we Alterra can offer you more, and we do offer you more, than the Jaffa can offer right now. In time I am sure that you will repay any debt that you believe that you have to us."

"What is it that you offer?"

"As you are aware the Alterra have returned but there are still few of us. Most under my command are human or the more evolved Lanteans, only two other Alterra exist. In time our numbers will increase, but for now we need to recruit others to our cause. You, Master Bra'tac, have many years of experience in battle correct?"

"I have served the Goa'uld in battles fought both in space and on the ground for almost a hundred and fifty years. To my knowledge there is no other Jaffa that is older than myself." As he spoke Bra'tac stood as straight and tall as he could, but had to relax when he had to cough again. "I am afraid that my age has finally caught up with me. Perhaps my experience may help others in battle, but my skills will not be used on the battlefield again."

"Counted against the Alterra you are still young Master Bra'tac, but our ranks lack experience that you have. I believe that the Alterra would benefit greatly if you would become one of us, all other Jaffa will be offered the chance to become Lanteans should they wish. We would welcome you all into our ranks, but we would not force you to abandon the culture that the Jaffa have. Of course you will need to follow the laws of the Alterra, but there should be no problems there as we allow most things. In exchange for your allegiance the Alterra will see to it that the Jaffa have everything they need."

"You would have us trade one master for another?" Bra'tac sneered and turned away.

"That is not what I wish for you to do Master Bra'tac. I offer you to join us as allies. You yourself will have a place within the high council, should you want to. If you feel that you must leave the alliance we will allow you to do that, the only reservation is that all Alterran technology must be returned or destroyed if you do."

"Your offer is most generous and were it in my power I would accept, but I can not speak for all Jaffa."

"I do not ask you to speak for all Jaffa Master Bra'tac. I only ask you to speak for those Jaffa who would willingly follow you. You say that the humans of Avalon fear the Jaffa, that they do not wish to trade with you. Here in Pegasus the humans have no knowledge of what the Jaffa have done in the past. Here we offer the Jaffa a new beginning. A chance to walk your own path. In time the Jaffa may perhaps return to Avalon as protectors of Pegasus."

"This is not a decision I can make lightly."

"I do not ask you to make this decision lightly Master Bra'tac, I only ask that you make it fast. Too much is happening at the moment, we do not have the time I would have wanted. Unrest is growing and we will need to act soon."

"I believe that you speak the truth, you will have my answer when the sun rise again."

"Thank you Master Bra'tac. I have other duties I must attend to now." Mokar bowed before he hurried away.

* * *

In the infirmary Beckett was working rapidly to get a Traveler they had just awoken out of a stasis pod while a group of nurses stood ready to get the next Traveler in line into the pod. He could feel the weakness in his injured left arm where he had been injured during the escape from earth, but his muscles were slowly regaining their strength.

From one of the doors Larrin stormed in, her face was dark red and her eyes were standing out. She had just arrived from Teal'c's fleet in orbit seconds before. Her footsteps were fast, heavy and determined when she rushed to Beckett and grabbed his left arm. Her grip was hard, enough to pull Beckett of his feet when she pull him around to face her. Quickly one of the nurses hurried to support the newly awoken Traveler that Beckett had to let go of.

"Calm down lass, there's no need to get physical," Beckett calmed.

"How many did we save?"

"They number in the thousands. We will have a definite number once we have revived everyone."

"How long?"

"Without complications it will take a month, maybe two."

"Doctor, these are families. Would you have them wait that long?"

He took her arm and led her away from the nurses. "I am sorry lass, but we're working as fast as we can. The young and the old are the weakest so we have already revived most of them."

"I will need to speak to them."

"They have been taken to the western pier, they will all need to rest to recover."

"Thank you." Without another word she turned around and hurried away. Seeing her walking away Beckett hurried back to the stasis pods.

* * *

From the door a dull chime was heard. "You may enter," Bra'tac said in response. He was sitting on the floor, in the middle of the guest quarters he had been assigned. They were much too big for his liking, but it was still nice to have some place to stay that was not the small Tel'tak he had fled from Dakara and crashed on Earth in.

Slowly the door opened, Teal'c stepped inside and the door closed again. "You asked for me?" Teal'c said.

"Come sit with me Teal'c. There is much we will need to discuss."

Slowly Teal'c bowed and sat down in front of Bra'tac. "I have been informed about the conversation Mokar had with you. There is indeed much that will need to be considered."

"Then you support this offer?"

"I do not. I believe the offer was made without thought."

"I am unsure what you mean Teal'c. The Jaffa need food to survive, there are no human worlds that will trade with us. Even before the attack on Dakara there was talk among the Jaffa to forcibly take human worlds. I fear things will not have changed in our absence, this may be the only way for the Jaffa to live free as we have envisioned for so long."

"Indeed, the Jaffa are warriors. We do not know how to care for ourselves without our masters. That is how the Jaffa have been controlled, that is how the Jaffa have lived and that, old man, is how the Jaffa have been raised since long before our time. Perhaps our vision was wrong? Perhaps the Jaffa can not hope to be free at this time. The Jaffa need masters for now, perhaps in the future we will have learned what we need to take care of ourselves. But at this moment the Jaffa are not capable of ruling themselves. The Jaffa will need masters to make sure they walk down the right path." As he listened Bra'tac frowned.

"You would ask us to abandon our new ways in favor of the old ones we fought so hard to demolish?"

"I would ask you to replace the Goa'uld with the Alterra, yes. I believe they are masters worthy of the Jaffa. Under their guiding hands the Jaffa may learn and finally become free from the need of others. We have both seen the actions that the Jaffa take when we are allowed to do as we please, then we are no better than the Goa'uld. They have corrupted our society and our ways for a long time old man, many Jaffa are as hungry for power as the Goa'uld once were. Until the Jaffa have learned what it means to be free and letting others live freely it is what I think is best."

Bra'tac's frown deepened even further as he listened. "There is wisdom hidden in the words you speak Teal'c, still it is strange to hear these words coming from your mouth."

As faint laughter came over Teal'c's lips. "It is strange for me to hear them too friend but I have spent much time discussing this with myselves. I have explorer many ways within my mind. This is the one way that I have found to be best. I believe I have found other ways for the Jaffa to survive but I find them to all have too many obstacles. A new generation of Jaffa will be needed, they will need to be taught the value of freedom."

"Then perhaps that is the way we will need to walk. Is this what we must do?"

"It is."

"Then we will need to make it so. There is one thing we still need to solve, I do not think Mokar willingly would become the Jaffa's new master and lord. I believe that you should be the one to talk to him."

"He will not accept it old friend. He may have been Jaffa before, but now his is an Alterran. Their new empire will be much too large for him to oversee the Jaffa personally."

Bra'tac nodded thoughtfully for a few seconds before responding. "Then you will need to take his place Teal'c, you will be the one to lead the Jaffa."

"I can not. After the last Goa'uld is dead and peace has returned to Earth my duties will take me far away for many months. The Jaffa will need a leader who do not have sworn duties to others. I do not have the knowledge or the skills to guide the Jaffa, I am a warrior, not a commander. You are both old man."

"Yet you command a fleet more powerful than any Goa'uld have ever had throughout their empire. Few will follow me Teal'c, I no longer have the strength to challenge other Jaffa to combat and gain their respect. Age has taken too much from me."

"The Alterra will return what age has taken, then you will become stronger still. Even now what Mokar did to save you after the crash will be repairing your body."

"And yet I cough only after a short walk. But if it is the way it must be, then I will lead the Jaffa who would follow me under the Alterra. If any other Jaffa challenge me for my position then it will be so."

"Then I will begin preparations for our return to the Milky Way." Slowly Teal'c rose from the floor.

"The Jaffa will need to be convinced of the strength of the Alterra, even in these dire times they will not bow to the Alterra without reason," Bra'tac said from behind.

"I will see to it that we the Jaffa will have a reason to respect the Alterra." Teal'c had approached the door and it opened as he approached it. With hesitant steps he left the room.


	10. Chapter 10

Sam was standing on the bridge of one of the large Traveler ships that had landed on the mainland of the planet were Atlantis currently resided. They had cleared out the wraith a long time ago so she had left her guards behind outside while she tried to access the data core of the ship. A group of technicians had attempted to retrieve it for her a few minutes before, but they had only received powerful jolts as soon as they tried to remove the cover panel so instead she had been forced to access the data she wanted through the Traveler's terminals.

A few of the Traveler terminals were interfaced with wraith technology but she had made sure to avoid those.

From the back of the bridge she heard soft, hesitant steps and turned around to see Larrin coming onto the bridge from one of the entrances. "Hi Larrin." Larrin remained quiet as she walked past Sam towards a row of white sheets that covered the bodies of the bridge crew they had found strewn across the bridge. "I don't think you want to do that Larrin." Still Larrin ignored her and kept walking towards the white sheets. Quickly Sam hurried to block Larrin's path, but Larrin simply walked around her and grabbed the closest sheet. She pulled it down and four faces were exposed. She sighed and went on to pull down four more sheets, sighing each time. When she pulled away the next sheet she kneeled down next to an old woman. All of the bodies beneath the sheets were drained by the wraith so they all looked like old husks, but this was the one the wraith had not touched.

Slowly tears began to roll down Larrin's cheeks and Sam hurried to her side. Unsure what to do she knelt down too and pulled Larrin close.

After a few minutes Sam saw the similarity between Larrin's face and the dead woman they knelt beside. "Your mother?"

A silent nod was all she got.

* * *

"Teal'c are you sure about this?" O'Neill asked. He, Teal'c, Bra'tac and a small group of personnel were standing in front of Atlantis' gate.

"Indeed I am O'Neill. Some Jaffa may have lost their honour but perhaps others still have it," Teal'c replied. He was wearing what looked like the normal full Jaffa armour but it had been created with Alterran materials to make it tougher, lighter and whiter. The only thing that was missing was the helmet, but that was substituted with the personal shield emitter's shield, something that was built into the armour itself. Bra'tac was wearing the same sort of armour but it had been painted grey to better match it with the traditional Jaffa armours. Currently both armours were creating a holographic image of the golden symbols on their foreheads using small holographic projectors, it was nothing fancy or powerful but it would be able to project something small or distort something bigger. Mokar had removed both their symbols to better mark them as free Jaffa but for now it was thought best that they blended in as much as possible, hence the holographic symbols.

"We'll be sure to take care of him General," one of the other men said. Like all the others he was wearing a skin tight black suit that could temporarily render them invisible. Strapped to their legs were two knives and an Alterran pistol.

"The Jaffa will react as I have promised General O'Neill," Bra'tac assured him while the gate begun to dial.

"Let's hope they do."

"I will see you soon O'Neill," Teal'c said. He grabbed Jack's arm and held it for a second before letting go and heading for the now active gate.

"I'll be there Teal'c." As Jack spoke Teal'c walked through the gate and the majority of the other personnel followed him.

While the rest stood there and watched the sound of hard metal boots hitting the floor began to sound from one of the corridors leading up to the gate. It took a few seconds before an armoured figure, wearing the same armour as Bra'tac but with a Serpent guard's helmet topping it off, came walking towards them. It stopped a short distance away and the helmet retracted to show Ronon, with Anubis' black symbol projected onto his forehead. "Do I really have to wear this?" he complained.

"You're one of our best warriors Ronon but the Jaffa need to think that you're one of them so you can assist Master Bra'tac if necessary," Jack replied.

"I could just beat some respect into them."

"That is what you shall do if any Jaffa attempt to stop us," Bra'tac said.

"It's just a week, then you're free to wear what you want again," Jack said.

"Fine, can we get a move on?"

"Dial it again," Jack shouted up to the control room. The gate had shut down a few seconds before but now it was starting to dial again. "Good luck."

"We shall not require luck on this mission, these armours and your mens' protection will be all we need General O'Neill," Bra'tac said when he stepped up to the gate that had now established a wormhole.

"What he said," Ronon said and walked through. Bra'tac followed closely behind with the other men. A second later a jumper descended from above and plunged through the gate after them. Then the gate shut down.

* * *

A few hours after Teal'c, Bra'tac and Ronon had left things had begun to settle down and Mokar called to a meeting. Present were Mokar, Jack, Sam, Radek, Carson and Larrin while Sheppard, who was still in the Tower with Teyla, and Daniel were present as holograms.

"With the recent events that have happened I believe it may be wise to hold this informative meeting so that we all know what is happening. Perhaps you would like to start with what has happened on Earth Daniel?" Mokar said.

-Yea, sure,- Daniel said and stood up. Next to him a holographic map of Earth appeared with coloured chunks. Most of Scandinavia was coloured white and large parts of Europe too, otherwise Earth was covered mostly in red. -Here's how things are looking at the moment, white areas are the locations we have liberated or which are under the control of local militias who have joined up with us. We're pushing forward at a steady pace and so far we're getting help from the locals in most cities as we push forward. They're definitely helping us when we come but after we bombed the first ten bunkers from orbit the S.E.N have relocated most of their personnel to city bunkers which are impossible at best to bombard, even with drones, without civilian casualties. This means that help from the locals is even more important now, especially since the enemy keep using their shield disrupting ammunition. We secured several cases of these rounds after our last push and we will have them shipped back here for examination soon. The enemy keeps attacking us at every chance they get but so far their weapons are ineffective as long as our troops remain stationed behind our stationary shields. We have also recently begun retraining military personnel from the liberated areas who have chosen to take our side in this war. I would like to send them back here for further training and Lantean augmentation before we bring them into battle.-

"I would be careful who we choose to ascend to Lantean, but I am sure that we will find many among them who are deserving," Mokar said. He looked towards Jack who nodded in agreement.

"For the moment they will have to settle for the ATA-gene treatment," Jack said.

-Well it's nothing we need to discuss right now either way, what I need to know at the moment is why Colonel Sheppard has yet to come?-

"We have run into some complications as you know Daniel. That's the reason I also had to ask you to send us reinforcements," Sam said.

-Well we're about to wrap things up here, it will take the engineers a few more days to finish things but I will be joining you on Earth soon,- Sheppard said.

-Well that's good to hear because we have some trouble. We've been in contact with Brigadier General Kirk Greenberg, he's managed to retain some status under the S.E.N's rule.- The globe spun beside Daniel and zoomed in, flattening out as it did, to show an area in northern Nevada where a building was standing alone in the desert. -For those of you that have little knowledge of the Stargate programs history this is Area 37-92 in Nevada. It's where all of Earth's ships were built until the S.E.N took over. It holds three large underground bays, each large enough to house a single 304. According to General Greenberg, who is running the facility, it has been converted to a prison. After the destruction of McMurdo Air Force base it has become the primary holding location for people with ties to the SGC. He claims that Rodney's sister and niece is being held there along with many other. According to the General there's mostly civilians there, but apparently he has managed to hide a few of the SGC personnel among them. But our advances have apparently put some pressure on the S.E.N and they have begun to move people away from the prison for public executions. He is currently more or less begging us to come to their aid. He's got a few guards he trusts but the others are S.E.N soldiers. He's already transmitted access codes which should give us access to the facility when we arrive there. There should be just over one hundred fifty S.E.N guards inside the facility, just like usual they're a mixed bunch motivated by their free access to alcohol and the promise of power over others. Their command structure is closer to a gang than an actual military. The General has informed us that he'll increase the men's alcohol rations the coming days to help us.-

-I'll be sure to be back in time," Sheppard said.

"What do we know about this General?" Mokar asked.

"He was one of my instructors," Sam said. "He's a scary man, a bull of a man. He taught me survival and torture resistance, but I believe his true skill lay in the torture itself. He was a tough but fair man. I believe we can trust him."

"In either case we're not going to leave our own people behind," Jack said.

"Indeed. Colonel Sheppard, I will be relieving you as soon as this meeting is over so that you may assist Daniel," Mokar said. A nod was all Sheppard gave.

"Is there anything else Daniel?" Jack asked.

-Nothing too important.-

"Then we will move on to the situation here in Pegasus." Mokar said.

-Yes please, I'd like to know what's going on there,- Daniel said.

"We were forced to defend the Traveler home fleet from a Wraith attack. Thanks to Sheppard and Larrin's effort a large part of the fleet managed to escape the battle, but the wraith had already gotten on board the ships and we were forced to purge them once they had arrived here on the planet. We are still not sure how the wraith managed to get on board ahead of us," Jack said.

"Actually we do," Sam said. "There seems to have been a few wraith worshipers among the Travelers, I've just gone through the data core on one of the Traveler ships and there's hundreds of log entries from when wraith ships have docked. I expect to find similar logs within the data cores of the other ships."

"Are you sure?" Larrin asked.

"Well they did not write that they worship the wraith anywhere but that is the only reason I can think of. Why else would they let the wraith dock?"

"Then I must excuse myself." Quickly Larrin rose and stormed towards the doors which swung open for her. "If there are wraith worshipers among us I will find them. They will hang from the piers before the end of the day."

-Shouldn't you stop her?- Daniel asked.

"She's not going to hurt her own people Daniel. She's already lost too many," Sam said.

"Either way the wraith are sure to know the location of Atlantis, we must expect more attacks," Jack said.

"Indeed. But with the information recovered by Colonel Sheppard and Colonel Young I believe we will soon have an advantage," Mokar said.

-The city itself should certainly help us against the wraith too,- Sheppard said.

-What city?- Daniel asked.

"A Lantean city called the Tower by the locals, Colonel Sheppard's team discovered it a few years ago," Sam said.

"The city will indeed be valuable but we will come to that later," Mokar said.

-I understand the need to keep the city from the wraith but I would like to know what data we managed to recover from this city?- Sheppard asked.

"You recovered much data Colonel Sheppard, but I can not tell you what data it was that we looked for. I will tell you that I have an arrangement with my ascended kin which involves this particular data. Once the research requiring the data has been completed it will serve to greatly increase our military strength," Mokar said.

"You're really going to keep something like this a secret from us?" Jack asked.

"I will. Now, I am happy to say that Master Bra'tac and Teal'c have returned to the Milky Way to see if the Jaffa can be brought into our fold. On Sheppard's recommendation I have sent Ronon to assist Master Bra'tac if need be. I hope that we will soon have their assistance," Mokar said, leaving no room to ask further.

"Don't the jaffa number in the thousands, possibly millions?" Radek asked. "The city will not be able to hold such a large number of people in its current state. With most of our engineers busy creating new ships the repairs of the city have fallen behind. Before the city can house as many as it used to we will need to fix systems. I am talking about sea water treatment mechanisms, stasis storages, energy grids, structural integrity of towers and similar problems."

"Then I hope that the Travelers we are treating will help us repair those problems," Jack said.

-I am sure they will,- Sheppard said. Something the rest could not see called for his attention and he looked away for a moment. -We are ready to proceed here.-

"Thank you Colonel," Mokar said. "I will be there momentarily. Let's end this meeting people, it seems we all have things to do."


	11. Chapter 11

From the Alterran base on Earth two Auroras rose with four escorting Retributors. They pushed through the first planetary quarantine shield that was encompassing everything except the Alterran base, a few minutes later they crossed through the second and third quarantine shields which contained everything that they had yet to liberate. The atlantic ocean passed by rapidly beneath the ships and within minutes they had arrived over North America. Deep inside the bowels of one of the Auroras Daniel rose from his control chair where he had been sitting during the meeting. He passed through the single door leading out of the room and into the hangar where his men waited for him.

"Alright, listen up. We have a go," Daniel shouted. "We have codes to get inside the base and we should be able open the hangar doors from the inside. If those doors open the jammers inside will deactivate and we can start beaming out the prisoners, our friends and families. Atlantis have sent us a new upgrade, we will be able to beam through both friendly and hostile shields which means that as long as those jammers go offline we will be able to take on anything the enemy can throw our way while saving those held inside the prison." He checked the watch on his wrist. "We have thirty three seconds before we need to stand ready. I will give you twenty seconds to mount up inside those jumpers or you get left behind." Straight away the men gathered inside the hangar hurried away to their jumpers.

"Good speech Daniel," Sheppard said from behind, placing a hand on his shoulder. "If you don't mind I will take charge of this operation."

"I didn't expect you here so soon, you're free to lead the men Colonel, but I will be coming along too." He grabbed a rifle which one of the men handed him and clipped it to his uniform.

"With all respect Daniel you're a scientist and a diplomat, I think you've put yourself in enough danger as it is." Sheppard sounded harsher than he had planned to do and the words sounded wrong.

"And with just as much respect Colonel I would like to point out that I am responsible for the death of the Ori, Ra, a handful of other Goa'ulds and more Jaffa than I care to admit. Just too top it of I've ascended. Twice. I may be a scientist Colonel, but I have more blood on my hands than most soldiers." With rapid steps Daniel hurried over to the jumpers with his men having already boarded them.

"Point taken Doctor Jackson, just stay away from the frontline, I'd hate to be the one to tell General O'Neill or Colonel Carter that you were killed." As Daniel had already taken the pilot's seat Sheppard sat down in the Co-Pilot's seat next to him.

"Then we will only need to make sure that doesn't happen." He willed the jumper up from the floor and together they watched the huge hangar doors open. Like a swarm of angry bees leaving their hive to defend it the jumpers shot out of the hangar and dove straight down towards the lonely red and white shack that was sitting bellow. A few of the jumpers broke away from the main group to intercept a fighter group that was heading their way. The remaining jumpers took ground and the men inside rushed to secure the area around the shack. Daniel and Sheppard's jumper was the last to touch down and hurried to join the soldier who carefully advanced towards the shack.

There was a discrete and dull pling before the grey metal doors on the front of the shack opened and a small group of men surged out. The Alterran force were waiting for them to come and put them down just as fast as gravity could pull their stunned bodies out of the way.

Daniel tapped his com badge and connected to the second Aurora above. "Start to beam them down." Another tap cut the connection, but his second company had already begun to beam down. "They're all yours Colonel."

"Do we have the access codes?" Sheppard asked.

In response Daniel grabbed a small datapad from the back of a nearby soldier and handed it to Sheppard. "We've loaded them onto every datapad we have."

"Good." He handed the datapad back to Daniel and turned to the closest group of men. "Come on, you're with me and Daniel."

The duo hurried into the elevator, after clearing the stunned men out of it they stepped inside with a small group of men. Daniel entered the code, pressed the button and the doors closed before the elevator begun to descent. A piece of generic elevator music played as they slowly descended into the heart of the desert.

* * *

There was a silent thud as the last guard fell to the ground with a slit throat. Teal'c had arrived on the planet with his men half an hour before and had begun their march towards the gigantic golden temple that was seen in the distance. They were just a short distance away now and Teal'c was still disappointed by the resistance that the Jaffa were putting up, his men would simply activate their suits, run by and slit the guards' throats and reappear further away. Personally Teal'c had yet to kill a single guard and it was putting him on edge to simply rely on others, but it was going according to plan so he would relax as best he could.

In front of him he could see the forest around him growing thinner and the road he walked upon growing wider. He came out onto a large open field where the temple sat. A high wall with staff turrets evenly distributed was surrounding the entire complex and a large number of guards walked along the top of it.

Teal'c waited a few minutes in the shadow of the forest until his men begun to appear one by one at the base of the wall. He took one final deep breath and walked out of the shadow, at the same time he turned off the distortion matrix that the holographic projectors had been running to make sure his white armour did not give him away as he waited in the shadows.

Instantly the eyes of everyone were fixed on him and his armour informed him that twenty seven turrets were tracking him while he slowly walked towards the wall. While he walked his men were busy planting explosives along the base of an entire section of the wall. As Teal'c approached the men scattered and again activated their suits. When he was coming up to the wall someone activated the explosives and the entire section collapsed, taking half a section on either side with it. Through the large breach in the wall he calmly marched. His men seemed to have hurried ahead because he could see the blood gushing from the guards throats seemingly spontaneous.

He walked past two guards who had been spared but they simply trained their weapons on him, unsure about what to do with this Jaffa who seemed to be able to slaughter men with thoughts alone. He had barely walked past the two when their throats erupted like crimson volcanoes.

His path took him towards the building that he recognised as a prison. It had been their plan to let him be captured and then have him escape with help from Bra'tac's Jaffa, giving them a chance to impress the Jaffa and hopefully kill the Goa'uld who had attacked Earth in one fell swoop. From what they had learned about the now ruling Goa'uld during the aftermath of the attack on Earth it prefered to rule from the safety of a mothership, staying in space unless something special drew its attention, something like the capture of one of the most bothersome Jaffa, Teal'c. But with the futile resistance that the guards were putting up he simply marched by them and headed for one of the empty cells inside the prison. He closed the cell door behind himself and sat down on the stone slab that was sitting along one of the walls to wait for someone to lock the cell door.

* * *

The elevator descended for several minutes with Daniel, Sheppard and their men growing more and more suspicious every moment until it finally stopped. There was a chime before the doors opened and they were faced with complete darkness. Sheppard activated the flashlight mounted on his weapon and the others followed his lead. Slowly they advanced out onto the cold, hard concrete floor, their flashlights illuminating the floor.

When the lights were turned on the group was blinded and it took them a few moments before they could see clearly. They stood inside a large square room and close to the ceiling, along the walls, a concrete walkway was fitted. Hundreds of people seemed to be standing on the walkways and most of them held weapons that pointed down at the group.

"I sure hope this wasn't part of the plan Daniel," Sheppard whispered.

"No, not really," Daniel replied.

"You devils do dare come here to free the devil spawn whom our glorious warriors have imprisoned here?" a voice asked. It sounded strange and there was no doubt to the two men that it came from speakers and was synthetic.

"They are our friends and our family, we will go to any length to free them. You will not be able to stand against us," Daniel replied.

Sheppard had tapped his com badge while Daniel spoke and was using it to send mental instructions directly to the Auroras' in orbit. The com badge was far from a control chair, but it could still send messages to the crews' screens.

The man above kept talking, completely ignoring Daniel who tried to stall and solve things peacefully. Six minutes passed before Sheppard grew tired of the man's rambling. Two more seconds passed before a deafening bang sounded just as the floor shook. Large chunks of the walkway above collapsed and came crashing down along with the people standing on them. A second later four small groups of drones came crashing into the room. They drilled holes through the walls, the ceiling and the floor before exploding, taking with them as many armed hostiles as possible.

"Come on," Daniel shouted and led the men towards a hole in the wall.

When they came through the hole a small group of soldiers came rushing towards them with their weapons raise, firing blindly towards them.

"Keep back," Sheppard shouted to Daniel and pressed him towards the wall of the hole. Three of their men stepped out into the open and returned fire with deadly precision, making each shot count as they eliminated the hostiles.

With the hostiles eliminated the men fanned out into the room beyond with Daniel and Sheppard following right behind. They found themselves standing in a huge room which had been a drydock before, now there were almost fifty levels of metal walkways sitting along the walls. Hundreds of jail doors could be found along each level. The roof above was cracked and several of Daniel's teams were rappelling down through them onto the higher levels. Through three of the larger cracks the landing teams' jumpers descended to pick up the men and women that were freed from the cells. Two men in mismatching uniforms came plummeting down from above and crashed into the ground in front of Daniel. Just to be sure that they were both dead he shot them both before looking up. Their teams were rushing forward with brutal efficiency on the top levels, shooting everyone in sight and throwing hostile soldiers over the railing when coming to close. A few of the Alterran soldiers were dragged down with the hostiles but their personal shields saved them and they were back on their feet and fighting in mere moments.

-Doctor Jackson, Colonel Sheppard. Something's heading for Earth and it's coming quick. ETA is twenty seconds,- a voice reported through their com badges.

"Are we expecting someone Daniel?" Sheppard asked. A door had opened on the other side of the room and he was trying to pick of everyone who rushed out of the door towards them.

"Our sensors would have picked up any of our ships well before this, it could have some sort of subspace cloak or it could be a really small craft or it's extremely fast," Daniel replied and sidestepped to avoid a falling S.E.N soldier before pressing his com badge. "How large is the ship?"

-It's the size of a 304 Sir but the sensors have a hard time registering it.-

"Get all ships…."

-Sir it appears that it is sixty smaller crafts flying close together. Visual in half a second.-

"All available ships stand ready to fire should the ships turn out to be hostile. Move into position to intercept and block."

A jumper descended down and a group of soldiers rushed out to secure the area around the jumper while a single man ran up to Daniel and Sheppard. "Sirs, we've located the jammer the enemy is using to block our technology." He held a datapad in his hand and it showed a large red dot several floors below.

"I'll take care of this Daniel, go see what's happening above," Sheppard ordered.

"I expect you to bring all of our people home Colonel," Daniel said. He stepped into the jumper which begun to rise before the hatch had even begun to close.

-Sir, I think it's a gate.-


	12. Chapter 12

"Master Bra'tac, it has been too long," a bald Jaffa said when Bra'tac and Ronon stepped through the gate. Their escorting guards were in a jumper that had arrived right after them under cloak.

"Indeed it has Hal'tar," Bra'tac replied. A small group of Jaffa had gathered at the gate and followed around them as Hal'tar led them down into a valley where a small village could be seen.

"Many rumors suggested that you had been killed in the fighting on Dakara against Lord Enad."

"I fear I would have been killed had it not been for Teal'c. Still we have gained powerful allies who are willing to help the Jaffa against the Goa'uld and to help us find a new purpose as a society."

"What the Jaffa need is not purpose Master Bra'tac, the Jaffa need food." The village was growing larger and they could see even more Jaffa waiting for them.

"They will provide food as well Hal'tar, they only ask that we help them fight a war, something the Jaffa have always done."

"It seems you would have us trade one master for another so I must ask. Is it them or you who are asking us to fight this war?"

"I have offered to ask the Jaffa because I believe that the future of the Jaffa lie with them."

"We will see Master Bra'tac. When you sent word that you would come many thought that you came to led them against Enad, I do not know how they will react. Had Master Teal'c been here too they would all have followed you two to Netu."

"I am sorry that I must say that Teal'c has been captured by Enad. Those Jaffa who are willing to follow me will free him together with our allies. But enough about that, we have traveled long and far."

"I will have a tent put up for you Master Bra'tac and something to eat prepared. We do not have much to offer."

"We will not strain what little you have, we have everything we need with us."

"You do not carry a bag with you yet you have everything you need?"

"Indeed, our allies have provided us with all we need, you need not worry. Tomorrow at noon I will talk to the other Jaffa, in six days we will march to help Teal'c. Until then we will keep out of your way." Bra'tac bowed his head.

Bra'tac broke away from the group of Jaffa with Ronon and walked towards a small clearing on the path leading to the Jaffa village. As long as they could see Bra'tac the Jaffa bowed deeply.

In the back of the clearing a small grey box was sitting well out of sight of the Jaffa. Together they opened the box and removed a large bolt of cloth, while Ronon walked away with it to set up their tent Bra'tac took out the rest of the things in the box and began to prepare the Alterran rations they had brought with them.

* * *

"I want to know what's going on," Daniel said when he stormed into the control room of the Alterran outpost on Earth. He had been beamed from the jumper to the outpost as soon as the jumper had cleared the jamming field.

"We're still analysing the data Sir. One of the crafts dropped out of hyperspace inside the atmosphere and our shield. It dropped a package but we lost track of it when it crashed into a Chinese forest close to a S.E.N base that's doing something to jam our sensors. Then it jumped back into hyperspace."

"Show me what the ship dropped," Daniel ordered. Straight away a small hologram appeared in front of Daniell. He gestured in the air and the hologram spun and grew at this command. It was a silver ring the size of a stargate but it lacked any markings or glyphs and there were no chevrons on it either. "Send half the fleet to find that thing, it's looking too much like a stargate to be anything else. Dial the gate to be sure no one can dial in to that gate."

"Dispatching the fleet," someone in the room said. In the background they could hear the gate dialing.

Daniel stood and watched the fleet's progress on a screen until they reached China. "Have them scan for subspace signals, even an inactive gate will be emitting something."

"Yes Sir." There was a pause before the person spoke again. "Sir there's a forcefield forming around the gate, it seems both our gate and the one dropped in China is active. We have confirmed that our gate has successfully connected to another planet."

"Make sure that the ships do not fire on the shield. Have them beam the gate and everything else in the shield that shouldn't be there into space and follow after. If the shield's still online after that I want the gate beamed away from everything else."

"There's a Prior creating the shield Sir. He's been separated from the gate."

"Let's send him a Prior disruptor and a gatebuster, in that order and with a five second delay between. Detonate the gatebuster as soon as it arrives."

"They're preparing a gatebuster Sir, it'll arrive in twenty seconds."

A complete silence fell across the room as they waited. The seconds grew ever longer as they waited until someone finally spoke. "There's no trace of the gate, the prior or any of the soldiers that arrived with him."

"Good work everyone. Send any ships we can spare to hunt down the crafts that dropped the gate. And prepare all our men for a large scale assault against all S.E.N bases we know about. If the Ori are coming we don't have time to take back Earth one or two cities at a time. Make sure to warn all friendly forces to stay the hell away from those bases, we're not going in with soldiers unless we have to, we'll be using drones and plasma cannons to level the bases unless we have a reason not to. I want this done quick, and I expect you to direct our forces as needed so make sure you know which forces you have for each area. I'll be briefing General O'Neill on what's happened here if you need me."

"Yes Sir," the men said in unison while Daniel walked away..

* * *

A few hours had passed since Bra'tac and Ronon arrived on the Jaffa planet and night had fallen. Everything was dark and quiet when a loud explosion rang out across the valley, waking everyone up. Bra'tac and Ronon waked up and rushed for their armors which stood next to their field beds, they touched the backside of the armors and they opened up to allow them to step inside, when they did the armors sealed around them. Ronon reached in under his pillow and grabbed his pistol from beneath, he strapped it to his side before grabbing the staff that Bra'tac was holding out for him. Together they ran out of the tent. The jumper was already waiting for them outside, fully visible, with its hatch down.

"Swing above and give us cover," Bra'tac ordered two men. "The rest of you give us cover fire."

The soldiers simply nodded and vanished from sight, the jumper cloaked. Leafs in the trees shifted and branches snapped when it forced itself up through the foliage. Apart from a few straws of grass that moved there were no signs that the cloaked soldiers were around Bra'tac and Ronon. The two began to run towards the village, from where the sound had come.

When they came down the path to the village everything was in flames. Some Jaffa rushed from their houses in full battle armour with weapons while other Jaffa rushed out into the forest with their weapons and armors in their arms. Teal'c and Bra'tac rushed in between the houses, blue plasma bolts came flying down the streets and they hurried to find who was firing. A large group of Ori soldiers were marching down the street with their staffs lowered, firing wildly at everything.

Bra'tac took cover behind a house and started firing back with his staff, Ronon on the other hand stepped straight out into the fire that was flying down the street. He was firing down the street with his pistol in one hand and the staff lodged under his other arm. He made sure to evade each bolt as best he could, but a few of them was stopped by his personal shield instead, until he reach the other side of the street where he took cover and fired back with his pistol. A group of Jaffa came rushing past Ronon straight into the street and were cut down. Ronon swung out with the staff and forced the few survivors to stop, five Ori soldiers were chasing after them but Ronon picked them of before they could fire.

"Fight back coward or I might as well cut you down myself," Ronon shouted and pressed his staff into the hands of the first Jaffa. It took the Jaffa a few seconds of hesitation before he grabbed the staff and fired down the street towards the large group of Ori soldiers. The other Jaffa hurried to grab the dead Ori soldiers staffs before joining Ronon and the Jaffa. By the time the Jaffa had made their decision the cloaked Lantean soldiers had already circled around the Ori soldiers and disposed of them from behind.

-Sir we've located a group of Ori soldiers coming from the gate,- a voice sounded through the com system in both Ronon's and Bra'tac's armors.

"Fire drones on any hostile forces that's in the clear," Bra'tac ordered.

-Yes Sir.- A large explosion bloomed up in the distance a split second later. -Target neutralized. Going to seek new targets.-

"Gather up any Jaffa you can find in the forest," Ronon ordered the group of Jaffa next to him. "Bring them to the gate and guard it in case anyone tries to come true."

"It will be as you command," one of the Jaffa said. They all bowed before hurrying away.

"You have already earned their respect Ronon, it will greatly help us," Bra'tac said next to him. "Come, General O'Neill needs to know this." He led the way back to their tent. The grey box was sitting inside the tent but they brought it outside and Ronon pulled the four pins. The sides fell down and a holographic keypad showed up above it. Bra'tac input a code on the keypad and the hologram changed to a flashing and pulsing blue and white orb. It kept flashing and pulsing for a few seconds before it changed again to show Jack standing bent over a terminal.

-Master Bra'tac, Ronon. What's going on?- Jack asked.

"We have just turned back an Ori attack on a Jaffa settlement," Bra'tac said.

-Good work guys. I take it you only faced footsoldiers and perhaps a Prior?-

"Indeed, we killed some fifty soldiers but we did not see a Prior."

-That's both good and bad. Daniel had to dispatch of a Prior and some sort of Ori gate on Earth, it seems the Prior tried to collapse the planet into a singularity, like they did with the first supergate. So far his ships have picked of three more Priors and their gates, which most likely means that you still have a Prior and his gate pumping troops into our galaxy. I'll have Sam back track the last connection.-

"They do not come by ship?"

-As far as we can tell they've sent a small number of ships here, they're no bigger than a jumper but much longer and each one carries a number of Ori gates. The gates are somehow different from the normal ones because both gates can have an established wormhole at the same time. It'll make it hard for us to find all of them and stop them, I doubt even the ascended would have an easy time with this. If they can collapse six planets that means that they can construct just as many supergates and have six entry points into our galaxy that we have to find and somehow destroy. I don't think I have to tell you just how much trouble that would put us in even with the Jaffa on our side.-

"I will have Jaffa sent out to all known Jaffa worlds to alert them of the coming threat. I do however believe that we will have to get Teal'c sooner than we planned."

-Send out your Jaffa and have them tell the rest that if they wish to fight with you against the Ori they shall come to your side in five hours. We have already launched from Pegasus and are in the void between the galaxies at the moment. We know of three worlds where the Ori may have dropped gates and we will go there to see what we can find before coming to you. In six hours time we will be standing by in orbit to rescue Teal'c. The city's far from fighting condition but against the Goa'uld our shield and drones will be all we need.-

"I thought it would take longer to reach us," Ronon said.

-We've repaired and refitted the entire stardrive already and we're pushing it to the max. Plus we've been on our way ever since Daniel reported the incident a couple of hours ago.-

"We will gather up all the Jaffa we can in that time General, it may not be the numbers we hoped for but we can use this war to rally more Jaffa to us," Bra'tac said.

-Well get going then.-


	13. Chapter 13

Sheppard came walking into the outposts control room with two guards behind him. "What's going on Daniel?" he asked.

"The Ori's back. A ship dropped a stargate on the surface, a prior and a group of soldiers came through but we've dealt with it. We've reached out to a few allies and two of them have had gates dropped on their worlds too. We've sent units to deal with them and we're standing ready in case we get any more reports like these."

"That doesn't quite explain why you have every available man running around the base gearing up for war."

"The Ori's an even bigger threat than the wraith, the S.E.N and the Goa'uld combined. I've spoken with Jack and we're changing tactics. We're not going to take a city or two at a time anymore. We're going all out."

"We don't have the personnel for an attack like that Daniel. It would take us several days to rush through each city and secure it somewhat. Not to talk about all the S.E.N bases."

"Which is why we're not going to take the bases Colonel, we're going to blow the bases to hell. I've already cleared things with General O'Neill. We're going in hot, hard and with everything we have."

"What about innocent people?" Sheppard protested.

"We're already fighting a war on two fronts against the S.E.N and the Goa'uld, and we've hardly even had any battles with the Goa'uld. We can't afford to fight on a third front against the Ori and possibly a fourth against the wraith. Even if we can end the fight against the Goa'uld we'd be fighting the S.E.N here on Earth where we have our Milky Way base while fighting the Ori. We don't have the manpower or the resources for a war like that. Especially if the wraith gets involved."

"That is no reason to risk killing thousands of innocent people," Sheppard yelled.

"You would rather have us fight a slow trench war? We could lose thousands of troops while they lose even more, just here on Earth. We need the backing of Earth to take on the Ori, this time we have an equal technological footing. Hell we may even have the upper hand there. But we don't have the people to fight them if they gain several footholds in the Milky Way. A single supergate or two is something we can handle, we can dial out if we find them. We can destroy any ships they send through. We can handle three gates and probably four gates too, but after that there will be too many gates. We won't be able to use the gates as choke points after that, we won't have the ships for that. We would probably not even be able to find all the gates, as long as they stick to planets that already have gates Jack, Sam and Mokar can query the gate system for gates going offline, but if they drop even one of their gates on a desolate rock floating in deep space far away from anything there's virtually no chance of us finding it. The Tok'ra are gone, the Asgard can't help us either, just like the Jaffa, we'd have no way of finding it. Last time we fought the Ori they almost destroyed us at each turn, this time we'll be ready."

"You're overreacting Daniel. The S.E.N have nothing to put against us, we only need time."

"We have our orders Colonel, you're free to take things up with Jack if you want but we'll be attacking in half an hour."

Sheppard stormed out of the room with his two guards.

* * *

Bra'tac and Ronon waited by the stargate of the planet where Teal'c was being held. They had waited for several hours and still more Jaffa kept arriving. Well over two thousand had arrived through the gate, all armed to some degree.

"The Jaffa truly think highly of you Master Bra'tac for so many of them to come when you call them against their gods," Ronon said.

"The Goa'uld are not gods and the Jaffa know it. The Goa'uld can not control us by belief anymore, instead they have to use force. I am simply someone they can rally around," Bra'tac said.

They were taking cover inside the forest to avoid the Death Gliders that were circling above them. Every now and then the gliders would fire into the forest and the Jaffa would fire back with the large staff cannons that several groups of Jaffa had brought.

One of the Lantean soldiers decloaked right next to the two and the Jaffa around them turned their weapons towards him before Bra'tac told them to stand down.

"Sir." The soldier saluted. "General O'Neill just reported that they've detected several Ha'taks approaching the planet. They'll be here in a few minutes. The Alterran forces will arrived in half an hour so we're on our own until then. There's also something large in hyperspace with the Ha'taks but they're unable to identify it."

"Thank you. Send word to Earth and Atlantis that I want any jumpers they can spare to keep the Ha'taks away," Bra'tac responded.

"We would have better cover from orbital strikes inside the enemy compound," Ronon said.

"I agree Sir, the forest is likely to catch fire and falling trees will cost us additional troops," the soldier said.

"The weapons of a Goa'uld Ha'tak are not accurate enough to hit us once we move out of the forest," Bra'tac replied.

"Then we better get moving," Ronon said. He checked that his pistol was secured in its holster before taking his staff.

"And move we will," Bra'tac said. He turned from Ronon and the soldier towards the Jaffa gathered around him. "We march now," he shouted. Straight away the Jaffa ran off to inform the others.

Bra'tac and Ronon began to walk towards the edge of the forest and behind them Jaffa began to follow. At first a hundred, then two, three and four hundred. When they reached the edge of the forest a thousand Jaffa followed them and more hurried to their side.

The outer wall of the compound was still damaged and staff cannons only fired from three of the guard towers, but with deadly accuracy.

"Spread out," Ronon shouted as the plasma bolts ravaged the Jaffa ranks.

When they came closer to the wall the guard towers exploded as a group of drones crashed into them. A second later seven jumpers blasted past them and took out the other guard towers before heading to intercept the Ha'taks in orbit. -Master Bra'tac. We will deal with the Ha'taks,- Mokar's voice sounded through Bra'tac and Ronon's communicators.

"We appreciate it," Ronon replied.

Ronon, Bra'tac and the jaffa rushed through the wall and into the compound. A hundred Jaffa waited for them inside the wall but their weapons lay on the ground. A lone Jaffa approached them from the group. "We surrender."

"You chose wisely, there is no need for further bloodshed," Bra'tac replied. "It would have been better if you surrendered before attacking our forces."

"We're only part of the garrison, the turrets inside the guard towers are controlled from far below the ground. As are the turrets you will find inside the compound."

"Let's go deal with them," Ronon said. He took a group of Jaffa and walked through the heavy stone doors into the nearby building.

"Where is Teal'c?" Bra'tac asked.

"He has taken residence in the prison cells. He tore through our defenses singlehandedly and choose a cell to sleep in. We've brought him as much food as he needed," the surrendering jaffa said.

"Old Man," Teal'c shouted from a staircase.

* * *

"Where's Daniel?" Sheppard asked. He was in the control room of the outpost on Earth but Daniel was not there. Outside all their men stood ready and waited for their orders.

"Doctor Jackson is still in conference with General O'Neill Sir," someone replied.

"Call him out of there, we need to get going."

There were a few moments of silence. "There's no response Sir."

Colonel Sheppard stormed away with his two guards to the conference room. He pushed the double swing doors open and they slammed against the walls of the large room, but there was no one inside.

"Get me a location on Daniel's tracker," Sheppard shouted into his radio.

-It's in the conference room Sir. It should be five meters in front of you.-

Sheppard and his guards walked further into the room. Something crunched beneath one of the guards boots, he bent down and handed Sheppard a pile of crushed electrical parts. The parts were mixed with blood and small pieces of flesh.

Sheppard reached out with his mind and activated the equipment inside the room. Straight away a hologram of General O'Neill formed in the room, he was sitting in the control chair.

"Whatever you have to say you'll have to make it quick Colonel, I don't have much time," O'Neill said.

"Daniel's gone Sir."

"Use his tracker."

"It's been carved out of his arm Sir." Sheppard held out the crushed pieces in front of him.

"Do whatever you have to find Daniel Colonel, but I want our attack to proceed unless we get a good reason not to," O'Neill ordered.

"Yes Sir, we will do whatever we need to find Daniel."

"I'll hold you to that Colonel." O'Neill's hologram faded away instantly.

"Gather up two teams and find Daniel for me," Sheppard yelled and waved the men away.

He hurried back to the control room and stepped up to one of the terminals. He looked out over the rows of people gathered in the room, everyone were sitting at their terminals working. "Listen up, as of this moment Doctor Daniel Jackson is MIA. Run through sensor logs, camera footage, anything you can think of that we can use to track him down. This does not mean we're going to delay our offensive. First two rows will focus on finding Daniel, the rest of you assist when you have time. I want these two operations to go smoothly."

* * *

Daniel was sitting on a cold, hard chair. His hands were tied down to the armrests of the chair and his feet were fastened to the legs of the chair. The air around him was ice cold and the room was pitch black. He felt someone putting an arm around his throat and the lights turned on. A short scrawny man was standing in front of him and a much larger man was standing right next to him, slightly behind.

"Doctor Jackson," the small man said.

"What's this?" Daniel asked.

"We're simply taking you hostage Doctor Jackson. It is nothing personal but I need you to stop the offensive that your forces are going to launch."

"No, I'm not going to do that," Daniel replied.

"I think you will," the man standing behind him said. The arm around his throat tightened and a knife appeared in the man's hand. Daniel's skin tightened as the knife was pressed against his throat.

"I have to tell you that this is a bad idea." Daniel strained and his right leg broke free, he kicked the small man in the groin but the man behind the small man grabbed his leg and rushed towards him, just like Daniel wanted. He pulled upwards and broke the metal pipes of the armrests, he let the left pipe slide into his hand and smashed the man that held his leg on the side of his head. With his right hand he grabbed the arm around his throat and forced it away but the knife dug deeper into his neck and blood began to stream down his neck.

"I'm impressed Doctor Jackson, you're stronger than you look," the small man said.

"You don't know half of it," Daniel laughed. He concentrated on the knife strapped to the small man's leg and a second later it dashed out of the sheath and into Daniel's left hand. He still tried to pull away the knife from his throat with his other hand but the man behind him had grabbed it with both hands and it was inching deeper. He pressed the knife in his left hand against the arm around his throat until blood began to gather around the tip. "I'll slice him up and leave him to bleed out here on the floor unless you let me go."

"I know a lot about you Doctor Jackson, I know you're a pacifist at heart. You wouldn't hurt anything larger than a fly, let alone kill a man. You're no soldier, you're a man tossed out by the academic community for his strange ideas." The man had pulled a gun and pointed it at Daniel.

"It seems your information is outdated. I might value lives highly but I've taken more than I can bother to care for." He pressed the knife into the man's arm and the blood began to pour. The man dropped his knife instantly and tried to pull away but Daniel held the knife tight. The man cried out in pain as he tried to move, by now the knife was plunged through the man's arm and only the pressure that the blade created held the blood back. "I think I'm both a scientist and a soldier. I'm ready to do what I need to survive and win this war."

"I guess we're not so different Doctor, I'm ready to do what I need too." The man pressed the trigger and the gun fired.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N:** The next paragraph is there simply to help you remember what's happened in the previous chapter, so just skip it if you're reading this chapter right after.

Daniel was sitting tied to a hard metal chair. He'd broken of the right front leg to free his right leg and both armrests to free his arms. A man had held an arm around his neck and a knife against his throat, but he had gotten a knife from another man and cut deep into the arm around his neck. Daniel had used one of the armrests to knock out a third man, now lying on by his feet. The other man, from whom Daniel had taken the knife, had pulled out a gun, aiming it at Daniel, and had just fired it.

The man fired his gun and it exploded. While Daniel had stalled he had concentrated on the gun and mental he had ruined the inside to sabotage it.

In just a moment Daniel had pulled the knife along the entire arm of the man. Then he dashed forward, grabbing one of the pipes from the chair as he did. The scrawny man that had fired the gun had dropped the gun and was clasping his face were searing hot gunpowder and sharp metal parts had scarred him. Daniel ignored the fact that he was wounded and hit him again and again with the pipe, beating him until he stopped moving.

Daniel was covered in blood when he dropped the pipe and turned around. He took a gun from the first man he had knocked out and aimed it towards the man who had the knife in his arm. The man was using his other hand to stop the blood but it was still running freely down his arm.

"Where are we?" Daniel asked.

"Help me, I'm bleeding," the man pleaded.

"I could, if you tell me where we are and how I can get back to my men. Otherwise I'll shoot you."

"You're not going to shoot anyone with that, it's biometrically locked to the people of this base. Without a set of fingersprints from one of us it's useless."

Daniel pointed the gun towards the man's legs and fired, but the trigger was stiff as a nail and refused to budge no matter how hard he pressed it. "That's good to know, now where are we and how to I get back?"

Blood was flowing down the man's arm and had formed quite a large pool around him. His face was starting to get paler as well. "Several floors above us there's a hangar, it's the only way in and out."

"Security?"

"I don't know, I just transferred here."

"Fine." Daniel stepped over to the small man and pulled out his belt, then he threw it to the bleeding man. "Tie it hard around your arm, close to your shoulder. I'll send down one of your friends, if anyone's smart enough to stand down."

"Thank you," the man said while Daniel walked past him.

Daniel pushed open the metal door and stepped out into a corridor with dark grey concrete walls. Just a few meters down the hall to the right he saw a pair of elevator doors which he hurried towards. He had taken a keycard from the small man when he took his belt, he swiped it through the reader and watched a pair of lights next to the doors descend. About halfway down they stopped and the doors opened.

Two large security guards waited inside the elevator with their weapons aimed at him. "ID, Sir," one of the men said. Daniel concentrated and before the guards could react he had mentally thrown them into the back of the elevator, creating huge dents where they impacted. Then he flung them into the corridor before stepping inside. A touch display was sitting on the wall next to the door, there were several dozen levels below him and he needed to scroll up for half a minute before reaching the top floor on the display. He pressed the top floor and the elevator doors slammed shut with reckless force and speed, then it shot upwards. At extreme speed the elevator raced up, only a few floors from the surface did it slow down and eventually stop. When the doors opened Daniel saw an underground hangar filled to the brim with planes, helicopters and soldiers walking around.

"Hello Sir," a woman said from a desk just outside the elevator when Daniel stepped out of it. "Is there something I can help you with?"

Slightly taken back by her Daniel took half a step backwards before he regained his cool and walked up to the desk. "I need a vehicle."

"May I see your identification Sir?"

"My identification?" He had placed his hands on her desk and she snatched the keycard from under his hand.

"Well I will need to see what vehicles you're allowed to drive and pilot Sir. Should you require I will call for a driver or a pilot. I don't know what part of the world you're from or how you did things there but here everyone is required to be certified before I am allowed to issue you a vehicle." She had swiped the card and was pressing on a screen in front of her. "Oh my. It seems we have a VIP here. I do apologize Sir but it's protocol here. It seems you're certified for most personal transports, is there any particular vehicle I may put at your disposal?"

"Any sort of quick vehicle will do, I'm in quite a hurry."

"Very well. Go to hangar bay twenty two, it's the fastest vehicle we have available Sir."

"Where's bay twenty two?" Daniel asked. His heart was racing but he did what he could to keep his cool, doing his best to fool his way out of the base.

The woman reached down, pressed a button and a small microphone rose from the table. "Jake could you come to my desk please?" Her voice boomed throughout the hangar. It took a minute before a young private came running to the desk.

"What do you need Ma'am?" the private asked.

"Take this man to hangar twenty two. And treat him well Jake, he's a VIP. One of the people putting food on your plate," she ordered.

"Yes Ma'am." He turned to Daniel. "If you'd please follow me I will show you to your hangar."

"Please lead the way."

He followed the private down between the planes, helicopters and vehicles parked in the hangar up to a pod that was sitting inside a wall. "Where are we going?" Daniel asked.

"Hangar twenty two Sir, we're in hangar five at the moment. This turbolift will take us there." They had stepped inside the glass pod and the doors closed. Then the pod speed upwards to the roof, once there it stopped before moving sideways along the roof. As they raced past several huge hangars Daniel looked out. There were hundreds of helicopters and planes in each one and even more ground vehicles.

Finally the pod stopped and began descending into a hangar. A single helicopter was sitting in the hangar.

"Welcome to hangar twenty two Sir."

"Thank you, Jake was it."

"Yes Sir."

"Tell me Jake, why do you fight in this war?"

"Food Sir. There's a shortage of food after the Goa'uld attack but the Nobility provide the food we need, both for me and my family."

"Then you're not really loyal to the Nobility?"

"As long as they provide food and clothes I'll do their work, but I want nothing to do with the killing, that's why I'm working here at the base. It's the safest place on Earth."

"Why not go off-world then? Or go to the Alterran side?"

"All off-world bases are under attack from the Goa'uld almost every week and there's no way for us to send supplies or men to them."

"What about the Alterra?"

"Is this some sort of trick Sir? I know what the soldiers do to anyone who deserts the cause. Fucking savages, cutting up people for getting an hour late to work. I could only imagine what they would do if they found a deserter. Despite, there's that shield which stop us from going to their side."

"I see your point." The pod had long since reached the hangar floor and the doors stood open for him.

"Good Sir. Is there anything else I may get you?"

"No I'm fine thank you. But there's someone on level one hundred thirty six that you may help third room on the left side as you leave the elevator I believe."

"The dungeon?"

"Yes the dungeon, there might be blood coming from under the door," Daniel said when he remembered the man below.

"Don't worry Sir, I'll handle it discreetly. I might not like what you're doing down in the dungeons Sir but I'll have it cleaned."

"Thank you Jake." Daniel walked out of the pod and the doors closed behind him.

Before him stood a huge helicopter, which Daniel had no clue of how to fly. One of the doors of the helicopter opened and a man in uniform strode towards him. "Well hello Sir, where may I take you?"

"I require quick transportation to a classified location, the desk lady at hangar five said this chopper was at my disposal."

"Yes Sir. That's why I'm here, I'll be your co-pilot during your flight. She's a big bird and a fucking bitch to fly."

"I can handle her."

"Good, but I'll still be coming with you Sir." The pilot helped Daniel into the helicopter and into the pilot's seat.

"If you're going to come along she's all yours. I take it there's a cargo hold on this bird?"

"Yes Sir, there's two quads and a truck in the hold if you need ground transportation after we've landed."

"I'll go take a look then."

"I need a destination Sir, unless you want us to sit idly in this hangar?"

"Fly south for half an hour and find someplace to land. I'll take the truck or a quad from there."

"We'd come very close to the shield Sir."

"I gave you an order, I suggest you follow it."

"Yes Sir." He pressed a few buttons and the engines roared to life behind them. Daniel climbed out of the pilot's seat and walked out of the cockpit. Behind the cockpit was a crew compartment and after passing through yet another door Daniel got into the hold. Two black quads were parked in front of a large humvee, but the hold was wide enough that the quads could easily pass by.

He strode over to the humvee and climbed inside. It was filled with high tech electronics. "Let's see what we have here." His eyes skimmed the text on each screen and on every button until he found what he thought was the radio controls. He pressed a button and a screen came to life, it showed frequencies and encryptions. He managed to set it to the SGCs standard frequency and disabled the encryption, after having confirmed it six times.

"This is Ascended One Actual, seeking contact with Homebase."

He kept repeating his call over the radio until he felt them taking ground, after only a few minutes. He looked up from the radio and saw the pilot and five men walking into the hold.

"Doctor Jackson, turn off the radio and exit the vehicle," someone shouted.

Daniel hurried to close and lock the doors.

-Do you really think you could escape Doctor Jackson?- the humvee's internal speakers synthesised the voice. -Even if you wouldn't have sent down that private to the dungeons we keep track of all old SGC channels, just in case you would do anything like this. Now step out of the vehicle and we'll let you live.-

 **A/N:** Alright people this is the second last chapter of this book. At the time of writing this (28/8 2016) there is roughly 3300 views of this story. I think that's good or at least decent, but there's only 11 reviews. That means that ⅓ % leave reviews. Now as we near the closing of the book I'd like as many as possible to review and say what they think. Anything is good, but I want to hear points of improvement, characters you think are out of character, weird things etc. I write because it's fun and because you guys come back and read chapter after chapter, but unless we get some reviewing going I see no point in doing a fourth book and will instead find some other stories to write.


	15. Chapter 15

Mokar's jumper was hanging silently in space, cloaked, with six other jumpers. Right in front of them several hyperspace windows opened and several Ha'taks appeared, along with something that was far larger, almost matching Atlantis in size.

-That's an Anubis class mothership,- someone said over the com.

-Hell no, that's larger than anything the Goa'uld have built,- someone else replied.

"Stay where you are and wait for them to come to us," Mokar ordered.

Ever so slowly the Ha'taks approached the planet. The minutes slowly passed by until finally the Ha'taks hung in low orbit, with the jumpers mixed in between.

"Focus on the Ha'taks and leave the big ship to the city-ship, but wait until they start their attack on the planet," Mokar said.

He picked up a transmission from the surface. -This is Bra'tac of the free Jaffa, on this day the last of the Goa'uld will die and all Jaffa who stand with them shall perish too. Join me brothers and let us strike down the Goa'uld for good.-

One of the Ha'taks began to fire down on the surface but another moved in between the Ha'tak and the planet. A third Ha'tak right beside Mokar powered up weapons and orange bolts of plasma flew by the jumper towards the first Ha'tak. In a matter of seconds the Ha'taks began to take sides, either bombarding the planet or defending it.

"Fire what you have and fall back," Mokar ordered as his jumper barely dodged a bolt.

From a distance Mokar watched the fleet of Ha'taks tear itself to pieces. In the middle of it all was the larger ship, its plasma weapons tore through any Ha'tak it targeted, easily destroying several at a time. While the minutes passed by the fleet tore itself to pieces. Finally a large hyperspace window opened and the Alterran city-ship emerged.

-This is O'Neill, I hope we're not late to the party.-

"You're not late General," Mokar replied. "Bra'tac's followers appear to have taken control of some Ha'taks and are defending the planet."

-I'll try not to blow them up.- Three large swarms of drones rose from the city and raced towards the Ha'taks.

"That would be best General."

Several Ha'taks broke away from the planet together with the larger ship to face the Alterran city. Their plasma cannons fired as fast as they could, but the city's shield soaked it all up. One of the drone swarms changed its course and came at them from the side, passing through their shields and drilling through the hull before finding vital areas to explode in. At least that was what happened to the Ha'taks, the shield of the larger ship held firm against the onslaught of drones. The city sent out another large swarm of drones towards the ship but still the shield held. When the city came into weapons range of the large ship its weapons opened up, thousands of plasma bolts slammed into the city's shield each second. In response the city let out all remaining drones and a few managed to force their way through the ship's shield. The few that managed to pass through the shield tore into the hull of the ship and in moments it began to lose power.

The Ha'taks had long since stopped firing at each other and simply hung there, watching both the large ship and the city slowly drifting closer to the planet's atmosphere.

"General O'Neill, the atmosphere will deal with them and Bra'tac, Teal'c and Ronon can handle anyone stumbling out of the wreckage," Mokar said.

-We burnt out the hyperdrive coming here and something got knocked out during the battle, I'm being told we'll need to lower the shield for a few hours if we're to fix it.-

"Be careful, it's not ease to land it on solid ground."

-I'll find a nice and soft canopy to land in.-

* * *

On the planet below Bra'tac, Teal'c and Ronon watched the Goa'uld ship plummet into the atmosphere. It came flying by right above them, amazingly enough it was still in one piece. Everyone rushed up on the walls to see the crash. Just a few dozen meters above the trees it slowed down and gently sat down in the forest.

Just outside the walls the jumpers touched down and Mokar and his men hurried out of them. A small pod rose from the Goa'uld ship in the distance and moved towards space. Mokar concentrated on the pod and grabbed a mental hold of it, then he janked it downwards. It came plunging into the ground just in front of the jumpers.

For a few seconds the grey metal pod sat there in the soft ground, half buried, then it exploded outwards. Shrapnel impacted everything around it, but Mokar held up a firm shield of air to stop the fragments. Slowly someone levitated out of the pod and onto the ground.

"Get back." Mokar barely finished the sentence before a wave of telekinetic force threw everything around him backwards, he easily blocked the wave in front of him but had to jump out of the way when one of the jumpers in front of him came flying.

"You dare stand in my way?" the other person asked with a Goa'uld's voice. Another force wave came rolling towards Mokar, but he pushed it back towards the Goa'uld, with all their strength they both pushed against each other.

As the dust between them settled Mokar could see the Goa'uld, he was wearing a ripped robe that must have been luxurious before it was torn apart. He also had a hand device and an array of other jewelry. Before Mokar could see anything else the Goa'uld grabbed a jumper and threw it at Mokar from behind. He grabbed the jumper mentally and gave it some extra force towards the Goa'uld. Before Mokar could react another jumper came flying and he was just barely able to avoid the worst of the impact. He felt the Goa'uld pressing down on him for a few seconds before the pressure was released.

He rose to his feet just in time to see O'Neill getting tossed into the wall by the Goa'uld, who had moved towards the Jaffa. With all his strength Mokar reached out and mentally grabbed all the jumpers, then he threw them one by one towards the Goa'uld, each one coming from a different directions.

The Goa'uld deflected one, two, three jumpers, but the fourth jumper rammed him into the wall. The fifth jumper crashed into the fourth and smashed it and the wall into pieces. He concentrated on the metal and forced energy into it, slowly it changed from a dull grey to a glowing orange to a bright white, until finally the two jumpers began to melt around the Goa'uld. He could feel his energy fading but someone was there to support him as he passed out.

"Ronon, Teal'c," O'Neill shouted while he helped Mokar away from the destroyed wall. It took only moments for them to reach him but he swatted them away when they tried to support Mokar. Instead he waved towards the ruined wall and the glowing metal that had been two jumpers seconds before. "Make sure that things is dead."

"Sure," Ronon said and headed over with Teal'c.

"You, come here," O'Neill shouted to two of the Lantean soldiers who came running. They grabbed Mokar between them while O'Neill took out a small emergency beacon from a pocket, activated it and dropped it into one of Mokar's pockets. "Take care of him."

"Yes Sir." A second later the two soldiers disappeared in a flash of light along with Mokar.

O'Neill had been beamed from the city directly to the outpost as soon as they had landed and secured the city on the surface. He had been knocked back by a force wave as soon as he had arrived, he had seen Mokar lying on the ground and had managed to mentally throw the Goa'uld just a few meters before he himself got thrown high into the air.

He could see Bra'tac breaking free from the Jaffa and coming up to him. "It was a battle well fought O'Neill, you have the support of the Jaffa."

"Secure the Ha'tak fleet in orbit to make sure they're no threat to us."

"I'll take care of it."

* * *

Daniel was still sitting inside the Humvee while the six men slowly approached him from the front of the helicopter.

-Doctor Jackson, we can do this the easy way or we can come get you, I suggest that you be smart.- The Humvee kept synthesising the men's' voices while they approached. Outside the helicopter a thud sounded and a split second later an explosion ruptured the hull. The soldiers hurried to move against the attack, just as another thud sounded on the other side of the helicopter and another explosion tore open that side of the helicopter. Instantly a platoon of men stormed into the helicopter from both sides. Before the S.E.N soldiers could react they were subdued and pressed to the floor. It took only a few moments for Daniel to recognise the Lantean uniforms, carefully he left the vehicle and headed towards his men.

One of the men stepped up to Daniel. "Sir, we detected the broadcast and came as soon as we could."

"I'm glad you did. How are things proceeding with the offensive?" Daniel asked.

"Colonel Sheppard is pushing things as fast as he can Sir, but it's a large planet. We're hitting their main bases first, trying to take out any serious threats. Hopefully we'll break their moral and force them to surrender."

"Shall we get going?" Daniel asked.

"I need to warn you Sir, Colonel Sheppard is very angry."

"I understand."


End file.
